(Student Essay Fall 2015)
As you grow older, you discover you have two hands, one for helping yourself, and one for helping others- Audrey Hepburn
My original idea for my service project was to participate in my churches Angel Tree program. Instead of my family being on the Angel Tree, I wanted to be able to adopt a family. I wanted to return the graciousness of what has been done for my family, when we were in a struggling point in our life. If it had not been for the church, my children would not have had the Christmas that they deserved. Unfortunately, our church decided that they were not going to have the Angel Tree this year. My church’s’ pastor is a volunteer firefighter, and thought that it would be nice to adopt a family(s) that has lost everything due to fire. I will still help provide for this family when my church announces what is needed to help bring happiness to them. I am anxious to bring happiness to a worthy family that is experiencing such a disaster. I had a next door neighbor family, experience a total loss due to fire several years ago, that was to close for comfort. I could not imagine to completely lose everything but your vehicle. The Red Cross only paid 1 room, for 3 nights at Motel 6 and 100 dollar gift card for J.C. Penny’s, per person. This was a family 6, 3 children, 3 adults, one was an amputee. I could not believe this was all the assistance they could receive. I believe that adopting a family like this will touch me more than any type of giving. It would mean more to me than the Angel Tree would.
Although, I have not completed my service, and honestly, this is not a service. I am not being paid, nor “made” to do this. I want to, and frankly your assignment only just pushes me. Many did in fact help contribute to another cause given by my church, Shoebox for the Bronx. All year the congregation has collected different items for the shoeboxes, such as toothbrushes, combs, stationary, socks, puzzles, etc. With the assistance of Dr. Soldani, and the donations of toiletries, I added to the shoes boxes the items that could be matched together. We had a list of some demographic characteristics, which the worthy recipients would be. So in other words, I could pair the female deodorant, to the ladies’ boxes, men’s went to the gentlemen’s’ boxes etc. The shampoo and conditioner matches were as well placed in the boxes. The donations that I received from Dr. Soldani, worked perfectly because each box did not contain the exact things. Of all the other items that were left, I placed them in the box of donations for Emmaus Baptist College. My church also recently started to collect toiletries, and non-perishables, to assist the students in the dorms. My oldest son is wanting to graduate high school in two years, and go to Emmaus, so I considered this as a fit for the other items.
I am happy that many of my courses that I have taken on my journey through college, has asked that I participate in different acts of kindness. I have been on each side of the rainbow of life, and have felt the joy of receiving and the peace within when giving. Previously, in one of my other courses, a few other students and I; started the Toiletry Drive for our own students at T.C.C. We advertised with fliers around campus, had a booth at Stu-Fac Day, and had brainstormed for ideas to progress, such as bake sales to raise money for hygiene product purchases, silent basket auctions, in such. Our ideas were to set grounds and to pass along for other students to continue. These types of assignments that have one notice that they have “two hands”, instead of just one, as Audrey Hepburn phase reminds us, are lacking in today’s society.
