#50: Service Industry with Environmental Responsibility
Services are generally things you offer at work or to help others in need. Services can come in many different forms and sizes. For instance, in our world we have jobs that are apart of the “Service Industry”. This is defined to be a business that does work for a customer. This can pertain to a waitress, maid, or even a parasail mate. Each year after two schooling semesters, I go home to Destin, Florida for my very prominent job of parasailing on Florida’s Gulf Coast. I don’t go back just because the money is good, I go back to give vacationers an adventure of a lifetime. I want anyone that steps on my boat to remember me and remember what I did for them. The great poet, Maya Angelou inspired me when she said “ I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Working on a boat in the service industry has also allowed me to open my eyes to anything and everything around me. Each day I encounter different people, situations, and negligent littering to our beautiful ocean waters. Littering is one thing that has always stood out to me since I was a kid, Working in a harbor around all of the pollution and debris has me deeply saddened about the beautiful water people travel thousands of miles to enjoy. The amount of trash that doesn’t wash up on shore or float in the water is buried to the oceans floor would astound you. This slowly but surely has impacts on the wildlife, cleanliness of our water, and overall our environment. Therefore, when I point this out to my fellow co-workers and other water sport companies around me we can begin to take action. We contacted Florida Wildlife Commission and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) about where we should start as our business that relies on our beautiful waters and locational scenery that that bring in these tourists. I figured we all could start by placing stickers on boats we rent out and or take people out on say “ Don’t Litter, please keep trash on board, crew members will take care of it.” This would greatly reduce the rate just because there are people that would rather throw there trash overboard so they don’t have to deal with it later. Then we all can walk the beaches for trash washed up on the shore and or floating in the water when we are operating throughout the day. Although there are only a few of us, we can make a significant impact on the cause just by setting a good example for everyone who comes to enjoy the beauty of our ocean.
Approved!!
#51: Notetaker
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
Why I picked this quote is because this is truly how I live my life and how I want to live my life in the future. Giving away my skills and abilities is one thing I truly to do most in my day too day life. Ever sense I was a young boy I was trying to make other people happy before myself. Whether it was making someone laugh or spending time with that person when I had little time to spare to began with. I always tried to make that person feel special. Some people might say (and some people have to me) that doing this will make people take advantage of you. It has at times but I know when someone is using me and when someone just needs my help. I love making others happy and I don’t plan to stop anytime soon.
For my Project I am going to be a Note Taker for Dr.Soldanis’ class. This is a good way to serve to a fellow classmate by helping the student take better notes who has a Learning Disability. Why I want to do this is because I can understand were those students are coming from because I also have a Learning Disability. I’ve been struggle through school since I was in grade school and I know how it feels to have a disadvantage on the playing field. It first started when I switched schools in 3rdgrade from Trinity Catholic to Desoto Trail. I failed the FCAT and had to go to summer school. By the grace of God I pass the FCAT by 1 point and was able to attend the 4th grade. Ever since then I have struggled to stay on top of my studies passing by 1 or 2 points in the FCAT every following year. In college I stopped going to the testing center because I didn’t find it helpful, so I thought. I ended up dropping out of college for a year. Came back to college because I meet a beautiful girl who is now motivating me and showing me that I have a purpose and that purpose is to become a Physical Therapist. I am now using the testing center and it has improved my grades exponentially. I received all A’s and a B’s last semester and I plan to stay on course with that. The help that I will be doing is taking notes in class ever class day and turning them in at the Disability office in the student union so that classmate will have them. Sounds like a very tedious job but in the end it truly helps that student succeed in that class. I have had students do this for me in the past and I can’t tell you how much it truly helped me to level the playing field.
Approved!
My opportunities and threats are both very vast for my years after college. If I use my strengths I can be very successful in my business life. Also I have many opportunities after college for huge I know many people that own very successful businesses that I could do internships at and possibly get a long term job. I also could learn a lot from these people and someday open my own business. There are also many threats to my success. If I let any of my weakness take me over I could potentially go down a path that I could never get back on track. I am going to work to overcome my weakness and be as successful in life.
oh no! I think you sent me something you wrote for another class!!
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. -Mahatma Gandhi
For my service project I want to feed the homeless, but not just go out and buy food like cans and box’s but rather go around door to door to ask people to give what they don’t need to the less fortunate, I did this awhile back for a charity called big bend, it was very successful, only a couple hours work fed over 200 kids so I know that if I went around for the purpose of feeding the homeless id get quite a bit of food plus matched with the food I am going to buy myself. I plan on going to my old neighborhood in Southwood since I knew a lot of people there and my surrounding neighborhoods around where I live now, I expect to spend at least 5 hours doing this in all.
I think that more people should feed the homeless because most of them go to bed hungry at night if they don’t get money or food from people or a government program. Most homeless people are like that because of an mental impairment or a physical impairment or just bad luck so it is not often that they can help themselves out of their position which is why it think the government should house and food all living humans rich or poor if they need it, I believe it is a basic right to have protection and food because I could not imagine what I would do without it.
We could at least start by trying to give away our cans and non-perishables that we may not use or would not care to part with and go from there or petition to create a better government program that will better take care of those in dire need. It does not take much to feed someone, and if you donate your food to a homeless shelter they can better divide and serve the food you donated to the people who would rather have what you selected which also goes a long way. You do not always have to donate just food, the title “homeless means without a home so they may not have many possessions, you can give pillows, toilet paper, towels, a blanket, a backpack anything that you can part with would do. In my family we like to help people out, my parents have donated tons to charity and we have all done charity work, to me it is a tradition to help people so I will take pride in feeding and gathering food for the homeless and do it like I was doing it for my family. If we truly lived in a perfect world, nobody would be homeless but that is not the case… yet, we all have to strive to make the living conditions on earth more suitable to everyone.
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. -Mahatma Gandhi I found this quote to best relate to for me. I have always loved to work with others to better the community that I call a home. I have always had parents that stood behind me on all my choices and helped me with either donating time or money. I have always found that giving was always better than receiving because to see someones face light up and see all your hard work and thought pay off means the world. Most of my charity has been with girls who don’t have great home lives and foster kids. So last semester when I had you I went out of my comfort zone with dealing with older veterans and figuring what all I could really do to help and give all I could to them. But last semester I found myself going the extra mile with my projects for your class not for the grade but because I knew that it was helping someone that so very much deserved it. I only originally signed up to buy groceries but after the project I signed up for the christmas gift shopping. At this point I really did not feel that I had really finished what I had started until I met these people and got to meet the people I had imagined in my head of who I had been shopping for in my past projects. This semester I do plan on signing up for the spring gift service project and trying to get others I know to donate and to attend some of the dinners this semester. For my big service project I was hoping to have a big drive for girls who attend pace to get them school supplies, clothes, gift cards for places to eat and any other little things that could help them.
“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.”- Audrey Hepburn
As a child I used to attend an afterschool program at Celebration Baptist church during my elementary years. There I participated in recreational games, praise and worship, Homework, and board games. When attending there I was given the chance to make new friends from many different schools, even some that were twice my age. Even though I spent five years there I never new of the impact that the leaders were having on my life. When thinking of a way to give back I figured what better place to give back then to the place that invested everything into me. Here I will be provided the chance to make a difference in the life of a child and establish a relationship that I can mentor for years to come.
Being at such a young age I never realized the impact some of the leaders had on me. They taught me how to properly get along with others when playing sports or other games, they took their time to actually teach me what I was doing wrong in my homework and helped me understand it, but most importantly how to grow in my relationship with Christ. When thinking of a place where I could leave an impact I figured Celebrations After School would be a perfect fit. I would be able to leave an impact on a child’s life the way someone did for me. The leaders did an amazing job of being more than just an after school counselor to me and many other children, we saw them as just another friend. This is one of the impacts I would love to leave on a child’s life. They never new what any of us were going through or what our home life was like but still found ways to brighten up our days even if it was one of our worst.
Through this I hope that my hands do not get put to use only for a few days. I hope to build relationships with many of the children that will carry on for years to come because I personally understand how helpful it can be to have a mentor in your life that is not just a family member. I hope that I will help a child not just with their homework or when playing a game but to help them in the early development of paving a path for themselves. Through this experience I hope that I will be able to learn from the children just as much as they can learn from me. The quote by Audrey Hepburn has inspired me to give back to the children who’s shoes I was once in but instead of just using one hand I plan to use both.
APPROVED
#56: Feed the Homeless
“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, and one for helping others.” –Audrey Hepburn
As a kid, I was never one to lend out a helping hand, but now that I have grown older, I have realized how important it is for those who are fortunate enough to help those who are in need. Everyone needs to eat, and as someone who grew up in the middle class, I never realized how important food was, because I never had to worry about if our family has food, and how much food we can eat. Unfortunately, that is not the case for everyone, especially the homeless.
During high school, as a part of my community service hours needed to graduate, I volunteered at a food shelter that fed the homeless in Baltimore, Maryland. Going in to volunteer, I only wanted to get my hours, and go home. I knew that what I was doing was the right thing to do, and I’ve always wanted to help feed the homeless, but I never went out of my way to do so. Sure, I would give some spare change, and occasionally some extra food if I had it on me, but I never had the mindset of “I’m going to go out and give some food to a homeless person today.” However, my experiences at the food shelter changed my mindset.
When I first arrived at the shelter I was both nervous and anxious to get started. I was looking forward to help out, but I was nervous because I had never done something like that before. Throughout the day, my nervousness turned into a feeling of happiness. I was happy because of what I was doing, also because I could directly see the result of my actions.
Watching everyone eat, and enjoy themselves was awesome. It amazed me to see how happy people who are less fortunate than most, could look at life in such a positive manner. Many of the people came up to me to give me pieces of advice when it came to life. I will always remember one man, an elderly African American man with a long grey beard, said to me, “whenever you’re sad, just go grab some food from your kitchen, and while you do so, just remember that there are people like us who don’t have the luxury.” This is a quote that I will never forget.
I encourage everyone to go out and volunteer to feed the homeless. Not only is it the right thing to do, but you can also gain a new perspective on life.
This isn't quite a proposal -- will you be helping feed the Veterans this semester? or working with a local shelter? ;-)
#57: Veterans Village
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou
This is my second semester with Dr. Soldani, and even though I had the opportunity to complete a service for the veterans last semester, I am delighted to provide my help this time around again. Last semester I donated a bag of food for the veterans, and the outcome was incredible her whole entire room was stocked with goods that all classes donated. This semester I plan to participate in a dinner because I know the veterans don’t get the privilege of having a home cooked meal everyday. My goal is to bring the veterans something enjoyable, maybe something that reminds them of a nice home cooked meal and something that is healthy because its not often that they have a healthy meal with the proper nutrients, other than when Dr. Soldani provides a dinner.
I feel that this service project is extremely beneficial to the veterans, but also to all of us college students because It gives us all the opportunity to lend a helping hand to those in need. Its also significant because it can slip our minds how important it is to help while we can. This project can give us all a chance to feel good about providing the veterans with a healthy meal. I know as a college student my priorities aren’t always in the best interest of others because there are times when all I can think about is how I am going to get a paper done, or a certain project submitted by the due date, but this project makes it necessary to go outside of our comfort zone and help the veterans. Which is a great because I don’t know too many kids my age that voluntarily offer to help out others, even though we all are capable and should.
I believe it is tremendously important to help around our community, or volunteer to those that aren’t as fortunate to live in a healthy environment because we are all equal and if people are hurting, or struggling why not offer what we can to help. There is no reason why we aren’t capable of helping especially if we’re healthy individuals ourselves. This service project is important because of the outcome that will happen. Not only will the veterans get to enjoy many nice meals, but for those that may not get the chance to volunteer regularly they can see how incredible and heart warming it feels to give. I know by just donating that bag of food last semester it felt amazing to offer my help, so I am really looking forward to this semester’s outcome.
APPROVED AND BRING YOUR CHEF FRIEND TOOOOOO!
#58: Homeless Shelter
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”- Maya Angelou. This quote means something to because I feel that I am a very sensitive person and the things that make me feel happy are the memories I look back to and say, “That was a good day”. Not because of what you were doing or where you were, but because of who you were with and how they made you feel. Not only do I feel things very deeply, I am a very aware of how others are affected by the things I do, or others. It has always hurt me to know someone else is hurting and I love to contribute to making people happy and putting an ease to people’s hurting. The most important aspect of life to me is happiness and to find the joy in everything you experience.
For my service project, I would like to serve in a homeless shelter because I feel that these people may have very few things that they can find happiness in nowadays, but I believe I have the power to change that, even just for a day. I was inspired in class to hear Mrs. Soldani talk about the times she has served in homeless shelters and the events she outs on for them. I could see that she truly has a heart for those people and maybe she feels just like I do.
Throughout my life, I have experienced a lot of homeless people. Probably the most impactful encounter I had was about three years ago, with my mom in the Wal-Mart parking lot. We were making a late night run for some toilet paper and upon leaving; we passed a family, standing on the sidewalk. There was a Dad and Mom with four children, three little girls and little boy. They must have all been under ten and the sadness on their faces was hard to witness. My mom slowly passed, but a few minutes later we turned around and drove back to Wal-Mart. We pulled over and my mom chatted with the parents for a few minutes and we learned that they had been homeless for almost a year and were desperately trying to get shelter for their children. My mom gave them a bag of groceries and a $100 bill. They were so touched; they cried and couldn’t say anything but thank you.
This changed my life, or at least the way I view mine. There isn’t much that keeps my life from going down that same course. I have been blessed enough to grow up in a home with parents who were blessed enough to have a job that wasn’t always the best-paying, but always kept us fed and taken care of. I believe that every person is here on this earth for a reason. As someone who is in the position to go home at the end of the day, why not wake up and see how I can help people who cant? No matter how hard it is to see sometimes, even the people in those shelters has a reason to FEEL happy!
APPROVED
#59: Homeless Shelter
The quote I picked to use for my service project proposal is “Try not to become a person of success. Rather become a person of value.”
― Albert Einstein
I picked this quote because this one stood out to me. I feel like I understand and wana live my life in the exact light of that quote because I wana be an all around person not only successful but have a full heart as well. Ever since I was a kid my parents have always taken me to give back to the homeless and the less fortunate. They always wanted to me to realize don’t take everything for granted. As I have grown up I have really came to understand life could change at flip of a switch. So for my proposal I would wana go give to the shelter that I pass every day on the way to TCC. Knowing after maybe I put a smile on someone’s face for not going hungry for a night. Cause every time I pass down Pensacola Street I at least know one person on the side of the street is hungry and homeless and I wana help and use this as my service project.
Have you decided how you will help them? Very often people in shelters t get vouchers to shop at places like goodwill, so they might need your time more than your goods.
APPROVED
