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Arts Humanities

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Apr 3, 2024

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COUN-6723-27 Week 9: Final Project Cultural Immersion Experience Cultural Immersion Experience: Habitat for Humanity For my final project I chose to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity of Coastal florence County. With my volunteer experience I worked directly with Restore . I previously heard about the work done at Restore by a contractor that I worked with in my new home. Because the Restore location was so close to my home it was a no brainer that I take a visit to see all the great products that people have brought in. Restore has everything from ten-dollar doors, dresser sets, TVs, chairs, and much more. Being assigned this project gave me an opportunity to do more research on Restore, the work that they do, and the products that bring people in. Luck for me, Restore was accepting volunteers for the holiday season. Ultimately, I chose Restore as my experience location because I wanted to work with an organization close to my own area of residents, Restore allowed me to do that being only minutes away from me. I began my volunteer experience in January on the 14 th Saturday from 1pm-4pm, this was considered a Restore PM Shift. As a volunteer for the night shift our task was to assist with unloading and organizing items that

were coming in from donations. Once organized the items would be prepared for the floor where people can then purchase the items brought in. While this volunteer experience didn’t allow me to necessarily connect with a community of people in need, I was able to work with and see firsthand the hard work that goes into making sure that communities have access to items such as those that are being sold and donated to Restore. I don’t think that this experience impacted me much emotionally. I can say that more than anything the experience has made me so much more aware of the resources that we have within our community. People that own homes and are unable to afford big renovations or repairs, can find parts and pieces that they may need, right at restore. Supporting a community by assisting with cutting costs of items is something that I’m happy I got to experience. I was so impressed by the dedication of the volunteers at the Humane Society. The passion that these individuals have for Restore is admirable. While I feel that I am already someone who is culturally competent, I can say that this experience has made me even more open to learning more about those that I interact with on a day-to-day basis. Volunteering at Restore I was able to connect with and work with many different individuals from many different walks of life. The one thing that brought everyone together was their passion and desire to make a difference within their communities. This experience has further taught me that regardless of your cultural background, people can grow, and build based off their general passions.

Cultural Humility is the ability to be open to new ideas ; It’s the “ process of focusing on self- reflection and personal critique, acknowledging one's own biases.” When thinking about cultural humility I think about two individuals who were also volunteers during my time with Restore. The first volunteer was a woman who looked to be near my age. She came about 30 minutes after the start of our shift. The fair skinned woman apologizes to the site manager and proceeds to make note of the reason for her tardiness. The woman referred to her two boys as being the reason for her delayed arrival. The second volunteer, while on time, was unable to fully assist due to him being wheelchair bound. I reflected heavily on the fact that any of these situations could have been seen as an inconvenience. Instead of viewing it that way I chose to look at it from a space of grace. Everyone has something happening in their lives or within their family backgrounds that cause them to respond, react, or behave in a certain way, and that’s okay. I can say this experience has opened my eyes so much more to the struggles of oppression and general privilege. While everyone shops at Restore, this experience opened my eyes to the fact that some people don’t have an option of where they can shop. Some individuals depend on places like Restore to purchase their furniture, appliances, etc. to purchase their household necessities. I think about people like me who look for places like Restore to cut costs on home improvements but could spend more elsewhere if needed.

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