Giving Back To Santa's Workshop

Ever since I can remember, I have had the intense desire to help people. In high school, I joined Kiwanis Key Club and National Honors Society; both organizations allowed me to gain hours of volunteer experience helping families in need within my own community. Both organizations have annual events to benefit our community. At Christmas, Key Club adopts a few families and we buy clothing and toys for the kids. Our efforts to make the holidays a more enjoyable time for the families removed the parents’ burden of having to worry about being able to pay bills after getting presents for their children. Also, National Honors Society holds a blood drive every year in coalition with the American Red Cross. Last year our blood drive was in honor of a little girl in our community with leukemia.

In tenth grade, my English teacher posed the class with a question: what are you going to do for your community? She emphasized the importance of making a positive impact, even if it meant simply smiling as you hold the door open for someone. She prompted us to go out of our comfort zone and do something for our community. While I had been volunteering at Church and at school, I had never really taken a step out of my comfort zone. Instead of just helping out in, say, a soup kitchen, I decided that it was time

I later realized that I should try to get some of my friends and classmates involved too. l started out my junior year. One thing our teacher tried to teach us was the acts of random kindness. After practicing random acts of kindness throughout the school, I mentioned the idea of volunteering a couple of hours with the Angel Tree. I also encouraged our school’s Student Council to help. The club adopted two angels. By doing so, this gave the students the desire to want to volunteer again the following year. This year, we had Beta club, student council and two dual credit classes, a total of 40-50 students, volunteer at the warehouse for 2 days. Some even came back during Christmas Break and volunteered at the Distribution Day. Not only is it important to lead and serve others, but one should also encourage those around him or her to serve others as

My community involvement began as a Watermelon Princess candidate when I was in elementary school. Since then I have become involved in many different activities. I am in 4-H and we have done several contributions to the community. Every year the Freetown Leprechauns 4-H club makes Christmas ornaments for the nursing home. We go caroling at Hoosier Christian Village in Brownstown and give each patient an ornament. I absolutely love doing this every year. The elderly people love to hear us sing and their faces light up every time. They even request songs for us to sing sometimes. The Freetown Leprechauns have also taken up canned goods for the

Volunteering and participating in service projects are two of the most rewarding activities in my opinion. Some people may find it was a hassle or only do it because they have to meet the minimum requirement for school or work. Helping others, for me, has always been somewhat second nature to me. Over many years of volunteering I believe I have developed qualities that will stick with me for life and benefit me in my career. As early as freshman year, in high school, I found myself looking for ways to give back. I started by looking for opportunities within school, where I came across the A+ tutoring program, and so my journey of giving back began. While tutoring, my patience for others really evolved, partly by choice and partly because

I give back to my community by collecting and donating canned goods to my local food bank. I understand the situation from those that need it because my family has had times where we needed the

I do many service activities for the betterment of my community and some examples are for instance in Texas for 5 years I volunteered at the Salvation Army during the holidays to pass out toys, clothes and food to families in need. I helped organize a breast cancer awareness fundraiser where we helped kids build box cars, sell raffle tickets, and barbecue to raise awareness and bring a twinkle of hope and happiness. I also regularly volunteered at the Shade Tree woman’s shelter here in Las Vegas. It gives me great joy that I can give my energy and time to those who are going through dark times with comfort and support they are yearning for.

I have participated in many activities that served to help others such as, taking my time to help at the Adult’s Day Care, help with anything that is needed at the nursing home, and on the weekends I would volunteer at the Youth Basketball Summer League by working at the concession stand, collecting ticket money, work for the scoreboard, and coach for my team. I also believe it is better to give than to receive. I donate money and toys to the St. Jude Children Research Hospital as well as giving to the Wounded Warriors. In addition to giving to the Wounded Warriors, my father and I participated in the cook off in honor of the warriors that have fought for our

From being active in my community I have learned that after giving, you receive the best feeling. My freshman year, my friends and I dressed up like Disney princesses and sang at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Columbia, Missouri. I have gone back two more times because I am in love with cheering people up. Since this experience, I have made it a mission to always continue to participate in community service. From meals-on-wheels, to adopt-a-spot trash clean up I am always ready to help out the community.

While I may not have completed much community service, I act out of genuine passion and self-interest rather than anything else. I see little reason to volunteer for a group or cause I have no interest in. However, I do enjoy helping others in subjects I quite enjoy like computer science and programming. The Harrington Park School STEM Camp gave me an opportunity to teach elementary school children about programming, an opportunity I would take again and will take again this winter. Tutoring volunteer work under the

Since the summer of eighth grade I have volunteered at Essentia Health Hospital making tie blankets for inpatients. These patients are able to take the blankets home with them when they are well enough to leave the hospital. Moreover, I volunteer at my local church for a once-a-month food share. I help unload the food from the truck, sort out the rotten produce, and distribute the food among the shareholders. Additionally, I clean up highways and trails as a part of Green Club ,and I partake in numerous other volunteer opportunities within my school

For the past two years I have dedicated one Wednesday a month to going to Ronald McDonald House. While there, my peers and I would cook and serve a dinner for the families staying in the House. I loved the way it felt to give back to these families that had been going though such hard times with their children, so I decided to

I have volunteered our local chart choose around my neighborhood that have partnered up with the Houston food Bank . Once a month on a Saturday the Houston food Bank sends a truck full of food and the church distributes the food to people in need around the neighborhood. I along with others would work behind the scenes and package all the food into a box and prepare for it to be distributed. Volunteering for this cause was super fulfilling. Regardless the hot weather I would wear again I knew that it was going to such a good cause. Just imagining a family who would otherwise struggle to have a meal to eat would now have a whole feast f have a whole feast ready on their table for their families.

I volunteer for many organizations because I am currently in clubs such as HOSA and Key Club. For HOSA, we volunteered at God's Storehouse. God's Storehouse is a small, local community center that helps citizens in the local community to gather the necessities they need. They take donations for clothes, food, and even toys. Us HOSA members went around Thanksgiving. We helped with hanging and organizing clothes and rearranging toys and placing them in the proper places. What I really enjoyed the most about this experience is seeing the wonderful smiles on the faces of the people in need. I was very blessed to have the luxuries in my life. It feels even better to give a person in need happiness. I would love to volunteer for God's Storehouse

I have been volunteering before I was old enough to know I was volunteering. As the youngest of four, I happily came along whenever my parents and siblings volunteered. But, community service is not just something I was taught to do; it is something I love to do. Today, I serve others in ways that are closer to my own heart. Serving people and animals “who don’t have a voice” has been and always will be central to who I am. I spent this summer raising awareness and funds for foster children, and I am excited to use those funds this November to personally decorate and deliver new duffel bags with supplies to foster children in my area. Additionally, I have loved dedicating my time to a local animal rescue where I have participated in animal