Valuable Volunteers

Throughout the Inland Northwest, teenagers often give up their personal time to help others. Today, some of these young people reflect on how community service projects changed them.

To find out about volunteer opportunities for teenagers, call the Spokane Youth Volunteer Corps at 838-6581. Or contact the United Way agency in your community.

By Brandon Janosky Gonzaga Prep

If you have ever dedicated time to bettering the community simply out of the goodness of your heart, you have done community service.

But what happens if it becomes required? Does that take away from its quality?

I was skeptical at first about how effective it would be when Gonzaga Prep made community service a requirement for graduation. I had no choice, though. I was going to find out.

It was not as if I had never been involved in community service before. I had just never been required to do it. I did not let the fact that it was a requirement affect my efforts. I made the most of my time and I was able to have a positive experience. Thus, I learned that community service can be rewarding whether it is required or done by volunteer.

Aaron Eckerle, a senior at Gonzaga Prep, had never participated in community service before for one simple reason: “I didn’t have the time.” Now that the time was made for him, he decided to make the most of it.

When he found out he would be spending time at a local grade school, he recalls thinking about the opportunity: “Exciting, something new, and I could gain something from it.”

He always thought that teaching would be a good experience.

Overall, he said his project was a learning experience not only for the young students, but for him as well.

Taking a chance and becoming involved in community service with an open mind could prove useful in your future, as it has for Eckerle and other students, even if it is fulfilling a requirement.

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

By Rachelle Colquhoun Ferris

This past summer I answered an ad in this very paper for the Spokane Youth Volunteer Corps, an organization that provides opportunities for teens to become involved in their community. I chose to spend my time with Habitat for Humanity.

I think it is important for teenagers to realize that there are people facing problems more serious than your own. I began my volunteer experience knowing very little about this organization and absolutely nothing about construction.

I can now proudly say that I am fully capable of using a weed-cutter and siding a house and even know the difference between a drill, a hammer and an electric saw. All qualities a proper 18-year-old young lady should possess.

Most of my time was spent working on a duplex that would be inhabited by two families. The best part of my experience was working alongside the two women who would occupy the homes when completed. I learned about “sweat equity” hours and “interest-free loans,” policies foreign to me until now.

I was anxious to actually work on the house, build a wall, nail a roof, save the world. Instead I was assigned what I considered to be menial tasks, clearing a field or taping sheds for painting. I wanted to see some progress, to be able to say that I had actually built something with my own two hands.

These women made me feel that what I was doing was important and knowing that my work was needed and appreciated made all the difference.

If you ever find yourself with some time to spare, I suggest you get involved. It might just put a few calluses on your hand and it may even open your eyes.

HELPING THE HOMELESS

By Joe Paolino University

What is a home?

In the eyes of some, home is a place where poor weather is blocked out, where all possessions are kept safe and where security from external danger is provided. For many of us fortunate teens, home is all of that and so much more.

Now imagine your life without a home, as a homeless person whose daily mission is to find a few scraps of food and whose nightly goal is to find a safe place to rest. However, these two concerns are far outweighed by the period in between when you must overcome society’s constant disdain.

Sadly, many people look upon the homeless with prejudice and do not recognize the worth of the true individual beneath the ragged clothes and tattered body. These biases lead some to disregard the truth that is a human being suffering through the worst time of his life alone.

Fortunately there are several local charities that give Spokane’s homeless a second chance. One of these is the Union Gospel Mission. There, men can take refuge from a world where fear and prejudice often brands them by joining a home-like atmosphere filled with compassion.

I spent two days at the Union Gospel Mission as a part of the Spokane Youth Volunteer Corps.

I really did not know what to expect. Even though I had often seen these men with bedrolls and bags on street corners, I simply felt sorry for them. I thought of the homeless as a group rather than as individuals who once had homes, friends and families of their own. By the end of my service, I recognized the human dignity of these shunned members of society.

This Thanksgiving, please remember that by reaching out to the homeless with kindness, we are the ones who truly receive.

FEEDING THE NEEDY

By Stefanie Tietge Lewis & Clark

Your mom won’t buy you the $120 pair of Nike Airs you want and your little brother and all of his 7-year-old friends trashed your room.

Your life is so terrible, right?

Well, what if the only clothes and shoes you got were donated and you had to get them from a clothing bank? What if you didn’t even have a room, and had to sleep under a bridge?

Why are you sitting at home whining to your dad that he forgot to buy you your five-pound bucket of licorice from Costco when other children are wondering when their next meal, if they have one, will be and where it will come from.

Can you really say that sitting a home watching chairs fly on Jerry Springer is better than helping someone?

You can change things. You can volunteer.

I think that the most memorable experience of being part of the Spokane Volunteer Youth Corps was serving lunch to the unfortunate people at the Union Gospel Mission.

I first thought it was going to be scary, but everyone was nice. Even when I was trying to serve cake and dropped it just about every time, they were patient while I got another piece.

People volunteer there everyday, but they really do need more volunteers, and so does the Food Bank, where I also volunteered.

It really felt good knowing that things that you worked on and packages that you made will help less fortunate and hungry people.

The Spokane Youth Volunteer Corps is always doing projects and I will participate and hope more people will too. It puts a good feeling in your heart when you volunteer.

Lessons learned on mission trip Volunteering gives sense of job well-done