Student Service Project Reports Summer 2016
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
-Mahatma Gandhi
I have always been a person that left work in the business category. I work with a lot of elderly people that need compassion, and I am not saying I wouldn’t give it to them. Emotionally I wasn’t capable of giving them all of the compassion they needed. After my grandmother passed away I was broken emotionally. Sometimes when I’d go to work all I would see was coworkers bonding with all of the patience. Right then I felt like I didn’t belong there, and eventually found another job filing papers. After being there a year and a half; there was still something missing. So, I went back to working with the elderly, but in the home. One day, I end up getting a call that this little lady just had surgery and she needed help. They gave me her information, and all I wanted to do was give her everything that she needed. I hoped to make her comfortable and happy.
Ms. Catherine was her name; she was this cute little lady. Her little voice so sweet and comforting. She had no family here, and her neighbors would help her as much as they could, but for the most part she had to do everything by herself. I worked with Catherine every day of the week for six months; through a senior care in home service. Whatever she needed me to do I would do. Made sure she got to her doctor’s appointment on time. Ran errands such as: grocery store runs, gassing up her car, paying bills, getting her car serviced, and so on. Cook whatever she wanted to eat, and went out whenever she wanted. Feed her dog, cat, and her birds. Make sure they to and from the vet on time. Whatever there was she had for me to do, I did it. In between, all of that we would talk. Catherine would tell me stories about life with her husband in Italy, how pizza hut was almost like pizza in Italy, how she left home eighteen. We talked about everything literally. Catherine me all of the things she made throughout the years. Wool purses, weaving baskets, crocheting curtains and blankets, pressed flowers and framed them, and how she carved wood. I became a part of Catherine’s life and she became a part of mine. One day Catherine told me that she couldn’t afford to pay for anymore services. So, right then I made the decision to continue to help. I would go after work and help for a couple of hours. On my day off I would almost half a day with Catherine. Even today, I go and help her with everything even without her paying me, because helping her makes me happy. She has fully become a part of my life. Even when I can’t make it we stay on the phone for thirty minutes to an hour. After losing my grandmother, I feel like Catherine is the closest thing to my grandmother. It may sound weird to you, but we are best friends.
Catherine has impacted my life in one of the most amazing ways possible. She would always tell me you can be whatever you want to be in life. I know I slip from time to time, but she is my comfort zone, and it motivates me to continue to become what I want to be even if I may slip. Catherine always tell me how much she appreciates me, but I don’t think she understands the drastic change she has made in my life. I think that we all need elderly people to give us wisdom in every way possible, so that we can pass that on to our future. I know people isolate themselves from difficult situations in life, and they may feel like situations aren’t for them, but helping others can give you answers to questions that you thought couldn’t be answers. Helping others can become a start for drastic change in our world. I really feel like the best way to find yourself is servicing someone else, because you will never know what happiness can come out of putting yourself in a different situation. Just like me removing yourself from a situation to having that urge to go back, won’t only change a person, but a whole community. I am proud of what I am doing for Mrs. Catherine and I will continue to help others.
