Community Service
      Essay by Miranda Savioli

Community service is giving something up to make someone else happy; whether it is your time, your money, or your wants to give someone something they need. Not everything is about giving though; you do get something in return. While you may get sunburn or bug bites, you also receive something a little more permanent – a good feeling that you did something to make the world a little better and memories that you can reflect on forever.

The memories I have received by volunteering through girl scouts, the Center for Prevention, or the school are priceless. From attacking each other with stamps while volunteering at the LAA basketball tournament with my best friend to landscaping at the Homestead nursing home with the Girl Scouts; while these acts of community service were meant to benefit someone else, in the end I feel that I gained just as much.

That “warm fuzzy” feeling you get after volunteering has lead me to want to help out more and more. In past years I have landscaped at a pet shelter and a nursing home, along with singing and giving out little presents for the elderly. This year I performed a dance and skit at a nursing home spreading the Christmas spirit then helped serve dinner. Through my school I have volunteered at the basketball tournament and I also ran a table at Family Health Night. In years past I have given up my lunchtime to help teach elementary kids how to play chess and my study halls to play board games with a student that unfortunately had learning disabilities. There have also been other small things I have done, such as making folders for the Center for Prevention and Counseling that were handed out to students at the “Taking Flight to change” anti-bullying summit. Other things I’ve done through them is walking for “Paces for Prevention” and giving up a Friday night to help out with the Miriam Avenue School’s “Family Fun Night”. People have also told me that acting in a community theatre counts as community service, but I don’t think doing something you love counts as helping out, but through that theatre I am going to perform a play on May 22nd at a nursing home. I also almost regularly participate in Litter Weekend because a clean world is a beautiful world.

My favorite place to volunteer is Strengthening Families, where I go every Tuesday to watch a (adorable) three year old girl while her mother takes classes on parenting, and help with my mom’s class when the three year old doesn’t show up. I really love going there because the three year old has become like a little friend to me and I can tell that she looks up to me. I plan to keep on helping there after this session ends, because you can really see how much you’re helping these families.

Besides Strengthening Families I plan to volunteer at the local Pet Shelter (Sussex County Friends of Animals) where I’ve volunteered in the past, and continue to act at the community theatre. I also have an interest to find volunteer work with helping and entertaining the elderly and helping animal organizations such as PETA. I will probably end up doing more small tasks for the Center for Prevention and Counseling and I plan to be one of the teen volunteers next year for “Taking Flight to Change” which is a two day event for the teen counselors.

Volunteering is a growing experience where you learn to grow and help a way of life different than your own. In a world of indulgence we need people who have a desire to help others.

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