Happy President's Day. If you are like me, you are at work today anyway. At least my phone didn't ring much.
Well, today I was going to tell you about how I got into service. My first volunteer activity was in 10th grade. I had a teacher who decided that a group of us immature girls needed to get interested in the community. So she started driving us into the inner city of Baltimore on Saturday mornings. We met in a community center and tutored 9-12 year old children in their school work. After we had worked on academics for a few hours, the youth put on music and we all danced. I did that all year.
How did that affect me? Well, I got that funny feeling. You know, the one you get when you help someone. And for a teenager like myself, I was amazed to see how others lived who didn't have what I did. (Before that I compared myself to others who had more than me.) I loved the feeling of helping. I enjoyed the kids. I got better at dancing too! It was a win/win.
I continued to volunteer through high school, college and thereafter. I have now interviewed and placed many many volunteers here at Oasis Center. Volunteers are the nicest people. You have to have a heart to want to serve. You have to have a heart to want to help young people....to care about the disadvantaged groups of our society enough to serve them. And young people are one of those groups.
As members of Americorps, you are committed to serving our youth. You care. You have a heart. And as one our international 14 year olds said,
Volunteering doesn't pay in your pocket, but it sure pays in your heart.
So not only do you have to have a heart to serve, but your heart grows larger and larger. Like the Grinch. And that is what our youth need....people in their lives with heart. That is what our community needs and our country and world.
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