This past week I got to be a counselor for an amazing service trip through Camp Shalom. Myself and another counselor got to travel to Chicago with 8 high school students to complete many different service projects through-out the Chicagoland area (with a few breaks for fun things in the city). The goal of the trip was to provide a few service opportunities to the high school campers that required different types of work.
Monday was a full day of service work. We went to Holy Family Ministries Center and played games and did crafts with the kids in their summer school program. It was fun to work with kids from 1st grade to 8th grade at this neat school. The high school campers enjoyed using some of their leadership skills while helping to led activities as well as playing with the group of kids. They told us many funny stories and jokes as well as re-did all of our hair (the girls were all so cute - it was hard to say no to them). I enjoyed working with some kids that had a different background than myself. In many ways they were the same, but a lot of their stories were way different than my life. It was fun to teach them a few new games and help them with crafts in their big gym-like room. We also had a tour of the school.
After exploring the city and visiting Millennium Park and eating dinner, it was time to prepare for our evening project. That night we worked to serve a sack dinner alongside The Night Ministry. We made 75 meat and cheese sandwiches, orange slices, and rice crispy treats to serve next to the bus (that provides various medical tests and procedures free of charge for those in need). There are very few paid positions with The Night Ministry and is therefore mostly run by volunteers (who were all very nice and appreciative of our help). After a few traffic problems, we finally made it and set up our table. As the campers served the meals, I watched the interactions between them and the bus visitors. Some of the visitors were very grateful and expressed their thanks many times; others were very shy and barely said a word; and a handful seemed dissatisfied with our sack dinners and wanted more. The variety of their reactions was very interesting and eye opening. It taught me a lot about people as well as gave me a small glimpse of what the life of the homeless may be like. This experience was also something that I would not have the chance to do in my hometown. I think the campers also enjoyed the experience and will hopefully learn from it and share the experience with their family and friends. I would definitely enjoy helping with The Night Ministry and I would recommend volunteering with this organization to anyone slightly interested.
June 25, 2011
June 16, 2011
Community Service Commences
I recently graduated from college and decided that while I search for a permanent job I will participate in as many volunteer opportunities as I am able. I've always enjoyed philanthropic projects (during high school and during college years I loved having to complete a certain number of hours as a graduation/sorority requirement and was happy to exceed the required amount) and now I have lots of time to participate in a variety of things! I have some big opportunities planned and I am searching for smaller opportunities as well.
The goal is just to do good and be happy about it. I want my service to be filled with variety. I want to help various people in various ways. I hope to meet and work with lots of new people. I want to learn and grow from these opportunities to make myself a bigger-hearted/more well-rounded person.
My summer of service began earlier this week while volunteer cooking at a summer camp that I have worked at as well as attended as a camper. Camp Shalom has been a huge part of my life (my grandpa worked there and my parents met there) and I have always wanted to give back to the place that has given me so much. Camp helped me to develop my faith, leadership skills, communication techniques, patience, and has given me the opportunity to meet countless friends. I was so excited to volunteer cook and continue to strengthen my connection to camp while helping current campers and staff have the best week possible.
I enjoyed helping to prepare camp meals for the elementary and junior high aged campers (some of whom I had met/counseled in the past-it was so fun to see their familiar faces!). I enjoyed seeing campers get excited over a delicious dessert/favorite food or make a grossed-out face over something new that they were not excited to try. I also got to interact and meet the current staff as well as see some new building projects around camp. These three days also helped me improve some of my kitchen prep skills as I prepared many ingredients for the salad bar. I discovered this neat chopper thing that perfectly diced tomatoes, peppers, and onions. (I may need to buy one because it is so fun!) Since I worked at Camp Shalom for multiple summers, I knew how hard our one full time cook worked and I was excited to make her job a bit easier. I think having benefited from the work of volunteer cooks in the past also provided as inspiration to help. Also, I did not mind to be paid in brownie batter and blonde brownies (along with the other delicious food of the week).
Overall, it was great to give back and re-enter the camp community in a different role. I can't wait to do it again (maybe later this summer or) next year!
The goal is just to do good and be happy about it. I want my service to be filled with variety. I want to help various people in various ways. I hope to meet and work with lots of new people. I want to learn and grow from these opportunities to make myself a bigger-hearted/more well-rounded person.
My summer of service began earlier this week while volunteer cooking at a summer camp that I have worked at as well as attended as a camper. Camp Shalom has been a huge part of my life (my grandpa worked there and my parents met there) and I have always wanted to give back to the place that has given me so much. Camp helped me to develop my faith, leadership skills, communication techniques, patience, and has given me the opportunity to meet countless friends. I was so excited to volunteer cook and continue to strengthen my connection to camp while helping current campers and staff have the best week possible.
I enjoyed helping to prepare camp meals for the elementary and junior high aged campers (some of whom I had met/counseled in the past-it was so fun to see their familiar faces!). I enjoyed seeing campers get excited over a delicious dessert/favorite food or make a grossed-out face over something new that they were not excited to try. I also got to interact and meet the current staff as well as see some new building projects around camp. These three days also helped me improve some of my kitchen prep skills as I prepared many ingredients for the salad bar. I discovered this neat chopper thing that perfectly diced tomatoes, peppers, and onions. (I may need to buy one because it is so fun!) Since I worked at Camp Shalom for multiple summers, I knew how hard our one full time cook worked and I was excited to make her job a bit easier. I think having benefited from the work of volunteer cooks in the past also provided as inspiration to help. Also, I did not mind to be paid in brownie batter and blonde brownies (along with the other delicious food of the week).
Overall, it was great to give back and re-enter the camp community in a different role. I can't wait to do it again (maybe later this summer or) next year!
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