Personal Narrative: My Experience Of Volunteering With Rahul

Service learning is key to understanding a multitude of people and personalities. The American Red Cross is the wonderful organization where I get to serve my community and gain experience applicable to my future career. I will assist in blood drives, spread community preparedness, and educate others. Clara Barton founded the organization in the spring of 1881. During the infancy of the program, the main duties were disaster relief, restoring peace, and being a liaison between the American military and others.

Throughout high school I have participated in many different activities and programs, but one of the opportunities I was given I will carry with me forever. As a junior at River Valley I participated in the Marion General Teen Volunteer Program. After interviewing and being placed in the physical therapy unit I took the opportunity to branch out into other areas of the hospital. I soon made my way to the labor and delivery floor where everyday a miracle happened. My duties while volunteering included assisting the nurses during hearing checks, changing diapers, and rocking crying infants in special care.

The smell of the onion and carrot soup from today lingers in the air. Bread crumbs litter the floor like sand on a beach. I always stay late in the evening to help clean up. As usual, Henry Watkins takes the longest to let the soup move down his throat to his hungry stomach. He was one of the firsts to start eating dinner here.

I got to fulfill the promise I made, but somedays I couldn’t handle seeing what all those innocent kids were going through. I volunteered every week in a clinic in Clifton. I had the best time cleaning toys, coloring with kids, playing games, and dancing to music. This whole experience that was given to me taught me that once I have power the best way to keep it is to use it. I kept the power of making a difference by going once a week.

I began volunteering at my town 's nursing home in high school. Initially, I volunteered as an arts and craft aide, coloring and drawing with the patients, but soon after my sister I transformed that time slot into a performance hour, doing our gymnastics, hip-hop, ppm, cheer, and kickline routines for the patients. It was very rewarding to see the patients smile in amazement and awe and also knowing that they looked forward to seeing me each weekend. At the same it was sad to see familiar faces disappear. After I acquired Home Health Aide certificate in the summer of 2013, I was able to help physically care for the patients.

Volunteering at McKenna Farms Therapy Services I was able to observe pediatric occupational therapy sessions. Not only did I get to observe Occupational Therapy sessions, but I observed Hippotherapy sessions too. What I found so unique about McKenna Farms is that they had Speech Therapist, Physical Therapist, and Occupational Therapist all together at one clinic. This allowed me to witness how the different types of therapy fit together and how the therapist would collaborate to find the best way to treat the children. My favorite part was finding ways to communicate with the kids.

While going through nursing school at Mount Mercy I volunteered at several places. During my sophomore year at Mount Mercy I decided to volunteer at Tanager Place in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Tanager Place provides a place for children to stay while they attend a variety of behavioral health programs that help them manage their mental health illness. Every week I would go to Tanager and help assist the leaders with the after school programs where we would create activities that the children could learn certain skills from. One day we played dodgeball and the children ended up realizing that teamwork is crucial and that everyone should be nice to one another because if they didn’t throw the ball to their teammates who were out they would be the only one left and their team would lose.

I chose to volunteer at “Phoenix Fire Department” as ride along with fire fighters because I was interested to experience a different health care setting than hospital. Although these fire fighters were relax and having a warm environment when it came to call outs to take care of people they were serious and professional about their job. The team exhibited cohesiveness through the various duties and activities, for example: working out, shopping, cooking, and cleaning. Some of the activities that I participated in were riding along with them, communicating with people that needed help, taking vital signs, and recording the result.

Often in life, we come across situations that may stretch us and challenge us, finding ourselves forced to get out of our comfort zone. Volunteering is definitely not for everyone, people may not have the adequate time, confidence, knowledge. But that does not mean you avoid the situation at all times, you must allow yourself to step out of your comfort zone and experience things that you would never think about doing. On the first week of volunteering it was a bit intense for me, as I found it difficult and little bit sad to watch the women living the way they do, for some reason I felt that they were always missing their children and grandchildren. Some of the residents did not even have family so they never got visitations.

What is life’s most extraordinary pleasure? For many, money, power, and/or fame come to mind, and the idea of helping others does not register. It seems for every person eager to help, there are millions ready to hurt or disregard those in need. Nevertheless, the world is not beyond salvation; there are numerous individuals willing to give their time and labor to transform the world into a better place for all. These devoted people are volunteers, and they believe life’s most extraordinary pleasure is the joy of helping others.

Volunteering is not an exclusively novel activity throughout the human history. During world war one, just in British there were 90,000 volunteers worked at home and abroad providing vital aid of caring for sick and wounded soldiers as recorded by British Red Cross. During wartime, no matter in which society there were people that spontaneously engaged in helping others in need. Volunteering does not only exist during the time of emergency or crisis, in fact it is always an indispensable resource for providing social service and improving our community.

I flew across the rocky blue Arabian Sea on flight AI1010 to America. With a new home and husband awaiting me, a new world ahead stuck on this huge metal plane, I feel so distant from everything I once knew. After spending the last six weeks with my husband’s brother and his wife in their home; cooking, cleaning and serving tea and sweets to guests, my nights leading up to this day have been spent tossing and turning at the thought of my parents being so distant and my new life so near. My last day in India was spent packing, making sure nothing was left behind and at dinner with my husband’s family and my mother and father.

I. For your information, volunteering is where, we are willing to do something without get any force from anyone else. II. Nowadays, young generation has realized that, being volunteering in any type of event it can give them a lot of benefit. A. According to my survey, half of my classmate had participated in volunteering services.

I always hated helping other people because I never thought it would help me go farther than where I was. Although later in life I learned how to help others and that if you help others it does come back just in a different way. I have learned the joy of helping others so and that if I was in the same situation somebody would help me. Also after they help me I hope I can go help somebody else. That is what I think about that topic so I will go to the next.

Volunteering is a way of helping others. It is giving a person 's time and ability to help someone who may be in need of help. Not only does volunteering help others, but what they may not know is that it can be helpful to themselves. It is a great way for someone to interact with others in their community. It gives someone that time to themselves while also creating bonds when they are doing the greater good.