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
Everywhere you go in your average day to day life, you
will see a person who is less fortunate than you. They may be a homeless
veteran who looks raggedy and torn, or may look like they have things figured
out when underneath things are in chaos. You never know what somebody is going
through in their life so to be able to give somebody just a small chance of
happiness even for a little bit means a lot to me.
For my
service project, this year I chose to send a box to the soldiers in
Afghanistan. I chose to do this one for two reasons. When I first went to sign up
for the dinner, all the sign-up spots were taken so my eyes went to sending a
goodie box. I wanted to send a box to
the Gavin because I have an Uncle who was a soldier during the Gulf War.
Although I was not alive during this time I still appreciate and understand
what those men had to go through, and what those who are still there are going
through today. To be able to send a soldier a box that has things they would’ve
never received otherwise means a lot to me. A little act of kindness can mean
the world to someone.
For
this project me and my friend Griffin, he is in one of your earlier classes,
decided to mail boxes to Afghanistan. Both of us have family members who have
previously served overseas so it felt right to choose this project. We decided
to meet one day and go to the store to pick out the items we felt were
necessary to send. After wandering through the aisles of Dollar General, we
collected the stuff we needed. Candy, twizzlers, chips, razors, you name it. I decided to send a drawing board with expo
markers so that during downtime they could have something to scribble on. I’m
not the best drawer myself but I know that being able to draw how you’re
feeling can help calm yourself and put things at ease.
I
believe that this service project related to my morals since I am a strong
believer in helping and respecting our service men and women. My parents have
raised me with the mindset of giving these people the highest praise since they
are working a job where at any possible second, they could die. I feel that it
is necessary to not only give them a reminder of the goods that wait for them
back home, but to let them know that somebody is looking out for them.
The
impact I would like to know that I had on someone is at least a smile. I can
imagine being in a foreign country, not knowing the language or the items sold
there, and to receive a care package with my favorite bag of Doritos and
starbursts in there. I really enjoyed that we did this service project because
honestly, I don’t go out of my way to do volunteer work like this that often so
this helped me feel like I made a difference to someone.
Even
though I was unable to attend any veteran’s dinners I am still happy to know
that something I have done will make it to another person halfway across the
world. I will continue with my life trying to spread as much of the knowledge I
have learned in this class from you. This year you have opened my eyes to many
different topics that I hadn’t previously heard of and I thank you for that. I
am going to miss this class, thanks for all the great stories.
