My Values, Social Justice, Equality, And Service

I have been a part of different activities for my community service. I have helped the TLC preschool afterschool with cleaning tables and toys once all the children have gone home. I have also been to the shelly baird school where they disabled kids go for schooling and helped out there with the students doing their work and played games .I am currently in “Dude Be Nice Club” and recently we participated in project night night where we would gather donated security blankets a book or stuffed animal and deliver them to children who have very little in homeless shelters. My community service in this case helped me realize that there are people out there who need some encouragement to help them get back on their feet and realize in life that

Eventually, my values which influence my practice as a Social worker include my personal value my personal values, my value of self-determination, equality, equity, social justice, connectedness,& coming from a non-judgmental perspective, from a profession position, I value the AASW Code of Ethics and reflection of myself. (AASW, 2010)

– My personal values will have to be respecting others, education, and helping and caring for others. The person(s) who I feel influenced me the most in forming my values is my parents and my grandmother. They influenced me because growing up they always preach about treating others with respect even if I feel like they don’t deserved it. They also made sure that education was a priority and not an option. For as helping and caring for others I always saw them helping when they didn’t necessary didn’t have too and not one complain or threw it in the person face. The value that lead me into social work is helping and caring for others wanting to see them do better and make better decision in life.

At a young age I discovered a passion for helping others and I have continued to be passionate about serving my community since then. At the age of eight years old I began the first year of what would soon be my ten year membership of 4-H. Through that program and my church’s youth group I truly began to understand what selfless service was all about. I first began helping others by walking dogs at the local shelter and helping my 4-H club clean the sides of the highways. I later was able to experience several mission trips that opened my eyes to the larger aspect of service. My love for helping people continued to grow as I got older and I continued to find ways to make a difference. One of my favorite experiences was getting to help cook and serve a meal at a homeless

We donated our time to a charity during the fall, the JROTC program decided to do the Mana Cafe to help those in need. It was a food drive and people would help gather food together to deliver it to families that needed it for the winter. Everyone was pitching together and doing their part to get the food together and in the people’s car. Even in the cold weather, everyone was having fun, knowing that they were doing excellent in their hearts. Therefore that day families were allowed to eat despite their economic struggle and all as a result of the service we did to help them.

Throughout our lifetime, us as people decide to admire different objects, ideas, and people due to what pleases their thoughts and actions. The infinite examples of things we could’ve valued could’ve been toys, friends, book, etc.. But then we began to mature and begin to come out of our little shells to discover new products, views of the world, and new ways to advance in our technology and therefore influencing what we value today. And as I matured in my lifetime, I established a novel value to my parents the greatest.

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.

Volunteering at a community health center in my hometown, Santiago de la Frontera in El Salvador changed my perspective on choices. Growing up, I thought that people chose to not brush their teeth. At the age of seven, I immigrated to the USA and didn't have a chance to understand that concept in El Salvador. I went back last summer and assisted an orthodontist. This opened my eyes to realize that some families have to choose between a tooth paste and food. In life, we are not given the same advantages and therefor, we can not make the same choices.

Values are what dictate our choices and decisions, values are what determine the course of our life (e.g., relationships, career choice, interacting with people, etc.) Values are not universal; each individual simply adopts the values of his/her parents or whatever dominant in the society. As human we differ in how we experience pain, how we communicate, our attitudes, expectations, beliefs, behavior, actions, etc. My values either the personal or professional are congruent to the helping profession and the ACA code of ethics. The primary value that I feel is significant is the self-determination to promote social justice and be the advocate for change on behalf of the clients and the society as a whole. In parallel to self-determination; are

One act of service that really changed my outlook on life was making blankets for Project Harmony. Project Harmony is on organization located in Omaha that tries to protect and support children who have been abused. They are equipped with a large range of staff from medical to forensics in pursue of help every child no longer be a victim and seek the help that they need. Every year around late fall, early winter my summer softball club team and I spend two weekends making as many fleece blankets as we can for those at Project Harmony. I say it really changed my outlook on life I remember thinking before we even started making the blankets how long it was going to take and that I had better things that I could have been doing. So already off the bat I went into a situation with a negative mindset.

Over the past several months, I have volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House. I prepared snacks for the residents and provided entertainment through arts and crafts for the children who lived there. I enjoyed hearing the stories that the residents shared and learning about their struggles. I specifically cherished painting pictures with a little boy who was a cancer patient himself. His mom told me and other volunteers the heartbreak of his prognosis and the story of his ongoing treatment. During another visit to the house, I had the opportunity to meet two twin little girls from Texas who were looking forward to seeing their first snow. I believe I provided some entertainment for the children in order to give the parents some time for themselves. Also in the past, I have volunteered at several church fundraisers serving meals and clearing dishes. Not to mention, last summer I helped out at Animal Adoption Foundation, an animal shelter where I exercised the animals and cleaned up after them. Plus, for many years I have participated in a community cleanup. Recently, I have also begun helping at Roll Hill Community to provide young boys in low-income families with activities to keep them out of trouble. Finally, through school, I volunteered at Peaslee Neighborhood Center in an impoverished neighborhood working towards bettering the futures of the local children. I found each of these volunteer opportunities to be very rewarding because I believe I am making a difference in my community and other communities and improving the lives of the people I touch. Similarly, I connected with several children experiencing different issues, but nonetheless, I provided the same

That meaningful time when I put my own needs behind me and worked toward the greater good was for my school Club Friends of Fisher House. This club works with the local fisher house in Tampa, Florida, as a club, we use our time to volunteer and raise money and collect items for the Fisher House. The Fisher House is a place for the loved ones of veterans to stay for free while the veterans are receiving treatment in the VA hospital. This club is the only such high school club in the united states thus the road that is being pioneered is a new one for many. Our club allows for the use of student time to be used to gain money for the comfort items that keep the Fisher house feeling like home to the many families that stay there annually. Joining this club has allowed for me to see how the house works and meet some of the families that are helped by the Fisher House.

By participating in the Juvenile Diabetes Walk and making sandwiches for the homeless, I learned about the importance of selflessness. Because there is no cure for diabetes yet, raising awareness and money for a cure is imperative. Knowing that I put those afflicted with a disease before myself and try to positively affect their lives in any way I can is truly a lovely feeling. I would get the same feeling when I would participate in the March of Dimes Walk, a walk for an organization dedicated to improving the lives of babies born prematurely. Preparing sandwiches for the homeless shifted my perspective.

Volunteering to feed the homeless is truly an eye opening experience to what reality is. There is an estimated one hundred million homeless people in the world who are starving and are trying to find a way to survive. On a day-to-day basis, we see homeless people everywhere such as on the streets, by the freeway asking for money so they can feed themselves, or maybe even feed their own family. One day, my mom and I decided we had to take action after witnessing so many homeless people on the streets.When people are in such a difficult situation, their only option is to beg for money because they have no roof over their head, and no food to eat. Many of these people are suffering from their own decisions, unemployment, or for other personal reasons. There are many homeless people who are sick and suffering from severe mental illnesses. It breaks my heart seeing homeless people in the streets, so I knew I had to take action and help out someway. The experience of volunteering to feed the homeless was most certainly a life changing experience. It made me realize how grateful I am for my life, how important it is to help those in great need, and to never take a meal for granted or roof for granted. This event was one that happened in the spur of the moment but has also changed me as a a person by becoming more involved and helping out more in my community , learning to never taking anything for granted, and by not assuming all homeless people are bad people as such.

From this experience volunteering I will hopefully be able to continue tutoring or helping students who are struggling in school. I am going to remember this experience when I am a teacher and be able to pay more attention to the students who are struggling and try my hardest to make sure that no one falls too far behind. I will also make sure that all my students get the help that they need in order to succeed. Overall this experience has taught me a lot and enlightened me with new perspectives from where people come from and their home