Vietnamese Church Community Analysis

Participants indicated that there was a greater need in their local community than they had previously thought. “I feel like this project has given me a new perspective on how we can impact the community. No matter how big or

I belong to a variety of communities like the Catholic church and the Vietnamese culture. However, there is also another community that sprung from a combination of the two: the Vietnamese Catholic community. The origins of the community stem from the first generation that immigrated to America during the war. Through hard work and establishing fierce determination, the first generation began laying the foundations for the second, current generation.

My outstanding achievement may not be as extravagant as others but to me, my achievement has helped my community and I have created a stronger bond with the people around me. As of my senior year, I have been recognized for 9 years of dedicated volunteer work for St. Peter's Vietnamese Church. Starting in fourth grade when I began my journey, I never anticipated getting recognized. I just simply loved playing the piano and helping my community. My talent was recognized when the choir leader chose me to replace the senior pianist at my church. I had begun taking piano lessons at the age of 6 and I had reached my fourth year when I started to play for my church. To qualify, I had to be able to understand and read music well and be able to decently

There are no words that can truly pull out that details of what I have received from volunteering at these events. Having seen the smiles on other people's’ faces, describes it quite enough. There is not a single thing in the world that can derive more joy in me than knowing that I had made someone smile;

Our Lady of Vietnam Parish is an established Vietnamese church that have functioned for many years. However, an issue it has yet to solve is its seating capacity issues. Because there is an overpopulation of Vietnamese-Americans who would like to practice Catholicism at this church, there is not enough seats for everyone, which means some people have to resort to standing up the entire mass. With statistics proving that the number of Catholics are rising, it is even more important that the church attains enough permanent seating for its attendees in the future. My proposals are to: (1) change the seating arrangement and consider new seating options; (2) run two Sunday masses concurrently – one on the main floor and one on the basement; or (3)

“Parachurch organizations are Christian faith-based organizations that usually carry out their mission independent of church oversight. The prefix para is Greek for besides, or alongside.Most parachurch organizations, at least those normally called parachurch, are Protestant and Evangelical.” ("List of parachurch organizations", 2018)A parachurch community that I have seen that meets the characteristics of a church would include Christian programs that are geared towards helping individuals grow spiritually, physically, emotionally, and psychologically and tend to the whole individual. The para church community had the leading of the Holy Spirit and “members look to God for salvation, healing, deliverance from evil, and adoption into the family of God, while seeking after God with all their hearts, minds, and souls”

The teens in my town needed good role models to follow, so I was able to be a part of a team that brought the towns youths together. We participated in fun activities and got to the root of problems in our lives. We helped these teens overcome the strife in their lives. I am very grateful I was able to help and meet these amazing

Throughout this experience I’ve gained a better sense of community. Being around people who wants to make a difference in their community, no matter how small, is truly gratifying. The little things make the greatest impact. It may not seem like much, but there’s bonding in everything. You haven’t bond with someone till you’re sorted through piles of clothes, toys, makeup, books, and that sang and dance afterwards. Not because we were done but because there was pizza, and we were happy that there was pizza. In the end, we all learned that giving back in important.

I felt like something was missing in my high school. I wanted to find a way to help others and get more involved in my community. I got a group of friends together and we started “Service Knights” in December 2015, the first service dedicated club in the school. Since then we’ve grown to about 40 members and have been involved in multiple service projects, such as charity fundraisers, community cleanups, and food drives. We’ve also become affiliated with Kiwanis and Key Leader, global volunteer organizations, where we are exposed to more service opportunities. The first and latest events, however, are ones that I hold dearest.

In my community, I bring about change by presenting solutions to problems I have come across. In school, I founded the math club, a club that would focus on matching students struggling with topics in math with a student tutor. Through this club, I was also able to offer help in the math section of the SAT for many students who did not have access to private tutors. Outside of school, I joined Camp Interactive, an organization that works to teach inner-city students how to use apps to help their communities. The problem I wanted to solve was the number of people in my area that did not involve themselves in activities within the community. To tackle this problem, my team and I created Outer Circle aimed to introduce all age groups to sporting

Last summer, I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, working vigorously to construct a new home for a struggling family. While working, I knew that I was changing someone’s life for the better; however, I did not realize the impact of my service until the day the house was completed. I will never forget the looks on the faces of the family – the gratitude, the relief, and the tears of joy. It resonated with me how happy they were to just have a roof over their heads, and in me grew a passion for helping others. Since then, community service and involvement have been central priorities in my

Volunteers bring a newfound sense of hope and encouragement to the lives of those they impact, which is important since some of the individuals rarely receive any form of assistance in their lives. I feel that community involvement opens new opportunities for these individuals and changes the quality of their lives in the best way possible. Thus, assisting those in the community is by far the most important task one can partake in since you are enriching people’s lives with positivity and seeing the impact it has on them. Another reason community involvement is important to engage in is because it helps students, such as myself develop real-world skills. While interacting with various organizations students learn how to communicate passionately with the people they are assisting, which in turn creates impactful lasting bonds that bring the community closer together in times of distress, whether it is a minor personal situation or widespread one. Creating these bonds within the community makes people feel included, principal, and loved these are three feelings that only community involvement can spark within a

On October 20, my Visionary Volunteers group performed our 10 hours of community service for this project with the CommUniverCity organization. This organization focuses on bringing people from the city of San Jose and SJSU students together to help the community surrounding Downtown San Jose to become more sustainable and use more renewable resources. We volunteered and helped out at the Safe and Green Halloween Party which took place at McKinley Elementary School which is very close to our university. This Halloween party was based on the theme of safety on Halloween and being environmentally-friendly. I was there for the entire duration of the event from setting up to cleaning up. For setting up, I helped by cleaning trash off the school playground, arranging tables and chairs for the various activity booths, and decorating the playground for the event. One important thing which I learned here was that teamwork helps us to accomplish large tasks faster. I found out that teamwork helps me to become more social and meet new people. This makes the job more fun as I interact with others while performing my tasks. If I was working alone, I would not have enjoyed it as much as it would be more work for me. Also, I would not have had anyone to talk to while doing my work. This is why I enjoyed working with others to clear trash from the playground.

Helping the community is a big part in how our world grows and improves every day.

The idea of “playing” when it comes to our faith sounds a little silly. Yet, I am reminded of this especially over the past couple of weeks because of one of the pastors who I admire and have been thankful for his mentorship is retiring this month. As I write this letter, Rev. Chuck Erzkus, who was my internship supervisor when I served in Cumberland, Maryland, is retiring on August 13th after serving for over 35 years of ministry. I was able to attend his retirement party on August 6th and reminded of what excites me about serving as a pastor and especially with a congregation. The thing which excites me the most about ministry is having the ability to have fun or even play within one’s faith/calling.