Service Day Reflection

Community Service is not strange to me because I have been doing community service at Northview Church since the beginning of my sophomore year in high school. When I saw the assignment that I have to complete 4 hours of community services, I knew that Northview church was my first choice. Northview church was found by Tommy Paino in October 1980. There were only 30 people in the cafeteria of Carmel Elementary School where they formed the church which later become Northview Church. Three years later, in the month of July, 1983. 285 people attended the last service at Carmel Elementary School, then they moved to the church’s new place which is located at 131st and Gray Road. In the late 1985, the church bought an 81-acre of land located at the highest point in Hamilton County on the southwest west corner of Main Street in the city of Carmel. This is the place the church is currently located at (“Northview Church History”). Throughout my service, I learned that the church’s mission is to connect people with God and connect people with people. They value relationships, spiritual growth, and the ability to reach out to those who are far from God.

As a student, I have demonstrated many works of service to my community and school. Service opportunities have shaped me into the person I am today and these projects have made me realize how fortunate I am for all that I have. While I've been doing these service projects through the years, it has been a pleasure seeing the joy on the faces of people that aren't as fortunate as I am. Service projects that I have completed include managing the fish booth at the St. Leo's Parish Festival, being an altar server at St. Leo's Parish, helping cook dinner for the Ridgway Fire Department during carnival day setup, participating in the St. Marys Light Up Night by dancing, and Christmas caroling to local residents. I also participated in a zombie/princess

On the last Thursday of every month, a few of the Young Adults from Harvest City Church volunteer to go to Carrall Gospel Mission and serve the homeless at downtown Eastside. These people are made up of drug addicts, ex-convicts, prostitutes and people with mental health problems. First, We have a short sharing session by the leaders of the mission, and afterwards we serve the homeless dinner. The purpose of this mission is not only to engage the impoverished, but also to give back to the community. Listening to the homeless talk about their lives, I have learned to be more content with what I have and not to take anything for granted. Moreover, I have learned that reaching out to others can have a lasting impact on their lives and also on

At the beginning of the semester when service was mentioned I was assuming we would have to perform an act to assist Shriner’s Children Hospital. However, this was not the type of service we were doing and I was perfectly okay with that. During the tour of the Shriner’s Children Hospital I learned that the land was not given to the hospital by USF, yet they paid a dollar a year, if I understood that correctly. I also got the jist of the time and effort that goes into making prosthetics limbs for a young child. The amount of pride and effort that these staff put in for this sick children are the most heartwarming thing. I really appreciate the love the employees have for the job. While I really enjoyed this experience, I was bummed out as the tour guide did not speak

The Union Gospel Mission is a homeless shelter that gives its residents jobs within the shelter. They are able to work in the field that they want to get into; things like cooking, cleaning, and many other things. While we were there, some of us were able to work in the kitchen and help prepare a meal for the residents. As the meal was being made, the rest of us were working out in a warehouse, sorting clothes. When it was time for us to eat, most of the residents had already left the dining hall, but there were still a couple of them there. Those last few people had waited in the dining hall because they had wanted to meet us. One of them, a woman, was so unbelievably thankful to see us there, for us getting out and helping

Volunteerism and willingness to serve others are magnificent character traits to discover while growing up. If one is involved with such activities, they will be able to contribute to society as a whole and “leave a mark” on the world for the better. However, such activities would not be available without the assistance of an outreach coordinator. Such people prepare service projects for the community, non-profit organization, or church in hopes of spreading good will among those affected by these actions. They also must be available to offer support to individuals who walk in and require the outreach coordinator’s services. Jeanna-Mar Simmons, a family friend, generously allowed me to shadow her on April 24, 2014. This wonderful lady is the outreach coordinator for Christ United Methodist Church. During my shadow, I was able to discover the intricacies of the organization behind all the service projects I participate in on a regular basis as well as learn about her relationship with God and how it intertwines with her work and the environment at the church.

The service I provided for the parish was I volunteered at Vacation Bible Camp. The people who benefited from my service was the other volunteers and the campers. The campers benefited because they got to learn about Jesus and his deeds by the things I helped out with and I helped them understand what we were supposed to do. The other volunteers also benefited from my service because they couldn’t do everything all by themselves and I helped them. I also did Helping Hearts for my service and I did it for the school and teachers. I helped with setting up the steps where the Dia De Los Muertos dioramas are put and made papel picado decorations. The people who benefitted from my service were the teachers and staff because they did not have to do all of that work alone and it would take longer to do it all on your own, so it saved time.

On October 20, 2016, I was given the opportunity to work at The Cedars, a retirement community in Portland. Mrs. Fitzpatrick and several of my classmates accompanied me on this trip. A service day is about putting others before yourself, and understanding that their needs are more important than yours. To be a Cheverian, one must being willing to sacrifice and put others before themselves, Cura Personalis.

The service I voluntarily participated in was helping victims of hurricane Irma clean up debris and cut down trees in Key West, Florida. We were divided up into three large groups. A local church (St. Peter Catholic Church), a water revised (John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park), and a museum (Crane Point Museum & Nature Center) were the three destinations for our cleanup crews. The team I was placed in went to help the St. Peter Catholic church. This multicultural church is ran by an Haitian American Priest that has been a pastor for twenty-five years of his life. During the service we cut down trees, stacked and removed debris. After about an hour and thirty minutes of this labor we helped replenish the handmade tomatoes garden built

For this event a group and myself were asked to go to St.Michael’s Church to assist others with their everyday tasks. I was personally asked to paint a retaining wall that closed off the property, and also dig up the dirt that was pushed up against the wall. My second task was to clean all the pews and to wash all the surrounding windows. This task made me thankful that I am still young and strong enough to do things I that I want to. The reason behind this is because most of the people that are apart of the church are very old and some things that they think needs improvement, can’t be done due to their age. By me helping them with everything they needed help with really made me feel good. It was satisfaction that was earned through compliments and progress. It also made me happy knowing that I put my mark on that church; in regards to the wall that I

In my junior year, I was asked to do an individual community service project for Alpha Omega Academy’s chapter of the National Honor Society. I learned that my uncle went to Golden Living Center Trussville to minister at their chapel services not only to the residents who lived there, but also to the visitors. I decided to go with him when he went. Being there and ministering to the people went beyond singing hymns and reading and talking about the Bible. It was to show the people love and give them something that is encouraging. I quickly formed friendships and bonds with the residents. So, I continued to go, months after the requirement had been fulfilled. Once I went the first time, going there did not feel like a requirement. It was something that I wanted to do and something that I enjoyed doing. Going to the nursing home has increased my skills and experience in the areas of leadership and public

This week in service learning we had a discussion about the election and politics in general. Personally i’m not really into talking about politics because it just ends up in a heated debate. People get mad about talking about it but they want to keep talking about it and I just don’t have any interest in talking about it. I feel like if I were to say something people you just bash what I had to say so I just listened. We also worked on the service project fundraiser for the Children's Museum. I think that this fundraiser is going to be a good turnout and raise a lot of money.

I volunteered at the Lions Park Senior Center as one of the tasks from my social work class. I was assigned duties at the gymnasium, that is where I have experienced most of the volunteer time. Supervising the posture to use certain machines, instructing new members on the use of the machines and looking up for the safety of the seniors at the gymnasium has been my routine. I helped filling groceries bags that were distributed to members of the center. As a volunteer, I assisted in arranging rooms for classes, meetings, and different activities like a health’s fair. I also contributed arranging and inventorying the puzzles in the library. There was also a free haircut day, where I assigned the sequence numbers to organized individuals

On February 26 I attended the Sunday worship service at Powerhouse ministries in Marshall, MO. Powerhouse is a Baptist church. As I walked through the doors of the small one story building, two elderly gentlemen with a handshake greeted me. The members of the church were very welcoming although they had never seen me before. They greeted me with a smile and welcomed me into their place of worship. Except for the wooden pews, Powerhouse did not look like any church I have been to before. The building was small and run-down and did not have any symbols such as a cross. The building had regular windows and did not have stained glass like those found in Catholic churches. Powerhouse ministries’ structure seemed humble and made me feel at home. It seemed as if money is not a priority for Powerhouse. Powerhouse is only concerned with bringing people together to worship Jesus Christ. Powerhouse did

My experience at Saint Vincent de Paul has been humbling. I went in expecting to work the more glamorous duties such as kitchen duty, but what I’ve found is that the lowliest tasks are the most fulfilling. On a typical day, I do odd jobs to prepare the dining room. This includes filling water pitchers, moving boxes of food, etc. After, the volunteers are assigned specific jobs. I almost always raise my hand for trash duty, because when the attendees are finished with their food they aren’t in as much of a rush and have more time to interact. The people I serve are impoverished, and a large demographic is disabled. Though, the group is so diverse that these labels oversimplify the individuals. Many of them will stop to chat, which is by far the most rewarding part of my service. Others approach volunteers seemingly ashamed, eyes downcast, which pains me. Early on I took some of these interactions as a sign of ungratefulness. A story that sticks out