Service is when you provide something
for those who need help and it comes in a variety of forms (i.e. giving access
to education, food, etc.). The biggest thing about service is that a reward isn’t
a requirement when wanting to help. It’s benefitting others without receiving anything
in return, sort of like altruism. Community service and volunteering are the two
things that automatically come to mind.
What motivates me to serve is that
I have the opportunity to make a change in someone’s life. My neighborhood isn’t
the best; those who live in the five boroughs would prefer to not even be in
the Bronx. Most people actually call it the dirtiest borough. Despite this,
there were leaders in the community whose purpose was to improve the
environment. Growing up I felt like there was nothing I could do. I wouldn’t be
able to make a change in my community because one, I didn’t have any money and
two, I wasn’t an adult. My middle school nurse changed my perspective; whether
small or big, whatever we can do to create a positive impact is a good thing.
I started doing community service
in middle school because we all needed a certain amount of hours to graduate. Our
school nurse would find opportunities for us to volunteer and each activity was
different. From cleaning parks on the weekends to making Christmas cards for
the Pediatric Cancer Foundation, I was eager to help out. Although they were a
requirement, completing community service projects became something to look
forward to every year.
When I got to high school, it wasn’t
a requirement anymore but I continued to work with 92Y, a nonprofit community
center based in the city. They usually had seasonal events that you could
volunteer for and my friends and I would always sign up. Once I started 10th
grade, I began volunteering at Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club. They held
afterschool programs for grades 1-12 to help keep kids off the streets. The
best thing about Kips Bay was the message they would always give to the kids:
we can make it out of our neighborhood and go on to do great things in the
future. It’s important to hear that from people who care about you because it’s
not said too often.
When thinking of the word service, the
research placements never came to mind. Looking back on what I define service
as, I see that our placements embody that. My service placement is amazing because
currently there isn’t another organization in Zambia doing the same thing. The
SANI Foundation has a school attached and they provide classes for eighteen students.
The classes range from literacy and arts and crafts to hygiene and sex
education. The goal is to find employment for their students. So far, they have
been able to help six people find jobs and they hope to do the same for as many
of their students as they can. What they’re doing comes with many obstacles,
mainly funding. They have the capacity to take on 30 students but due to
limited funding, they can only handle the eighteen.
Measuring success varies from
person to person depending on what he or she wants to accomplish. Sometimes
success in service is even measured by gratitude. The research Erica and I are
working on focuses on ways to alter people’s attitudes towards people with disabilities.
There isn’t any literature on how we can achieve that so it’s a challenge to
come up with effective recommendations. It’s not often that we get the
opportunity to contribute new information to ongoing research. If the SANI
Foundation, or any similar organization, uses our research to make a change in
communities, that would be a success for me.
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