AMH2020 student*
“As you grow older, you will
discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for
helping others.” - Audrey Hepburn. For my first service project I choose to
volunteer at veterans village. This was a very eye opening for me because I
don’t have anyone personally in the military but I moved to a military town
when I was ten.
Being from Jacksonville and having two military bases near by I
always see veterans and in my head I had this preconceived notion that all
veterans were wealthy when they came out I mean they had just served our nation
why wouldn’t they be able to live a comfortable life once they got out. So to
go to an apartment complex for veterans who were in a transitional period was
so interesting to me. This project fits in perfectly with my major because I
want to be an elementary school teacher. How does this fit in? Well I want to
work in a title nine school, which is 100%, funded by the government, so all of
the kids I will be working with will live in the projects and their own parents
will be going through a transitional period as well. Working with the veterans
showed me that not all people who live in government funded homes are drug or
alcohol addicts in fact most if not all of them looked like nice upstanding men
who just don’t know what they want to do in life yet.
At my core I believe in
love and respect. So this project has everything to do with that. The love
aspect is covered from seeing all of the college students take time out of
their crazy schedule to cook or buy supplies to bring to the veterans. WE all
have lives outside of school so to take the 1-2 hours out of our day to go and
help those less fortunate says something all on its own. I firmly believe that
by going and making someone else’s day by a simple act is a sign of love. Sure
I may never see these men again but I like to believe that by my one thing of
chicken wings or by the one normal conversation then that small slice of
goodness transferred over to them filling their heart with a little bit of
happiness and love.
No matter who you are I think that we all have respect for
the men and woman in the military but these men that we served deserved a
different type of respect. You had to have respect for the fact that yes their
life may be a little rocky and mess but you had to respect the fact that they
did not want to be looked at or treated any differently due to this. These men
wanted to be looked at the same way we look at our peers. You had to go in
there and respect that boundary and by doing that you really got to connect
with the men coming to get food. I learned more about these men and their lives
in that one hour by just being genuine and real with them then I think I would
have learned in 5 days of serving them in a row.
I like to think by serving
these men it impacted them in more ways that I could even imagine. These men
are transitioning from the military and adjusting back into society so I would
hope that by serving these men it provided with a feeling of belonging,
community and acceptance. With the stress of trying to find a job get food
reconnect with loved ones wondering where their next meal will come from is
something that they shouldn’t worry about. By doing this for them I think that
it provides the men with the feeling of hope if they are having a hard time
being back. Being kids coming and spending time with them I feel like it may
give them hope that there is still good in the world after the war or wherever
they may have been.
Overall this project was more eye opening and inspiring
then I ever thought it would be. At the beginning of the semester you said that
we don’t need a college degree to change the world. At first I had the mindset
that you don’t need it but it certainly would help, however after this
experience helping those who may have a degree changed that. It made me realize
a paper with some fancy title doesn’t define me, I define myself and I can
change the world one small act of kindness at a time. “As you grow older, you
will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for
helping others.” - Audrey Hepburn.
