My Eyes Have Been Opened:
Through My Work at the Salvation Army
An Essay by Hanna Rose Kronholm
Tuesday, February 29, 2011
Mr. H. Salsich
I volunteered at the Salvation Army, in New London Connecticut. My visits at the Salvation Army related to To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee in many ways. Along the way of volunteering my research helped me, not only at my site. The research helped me understand more about people in poverty. It was not easy for me to decide, there were so many places that I felt I could make a difference at.
There were many factors that went into my decision of picking my site, the Salvation Army. My inspiration to volunteer at the Salvation Army was when I walked by a women in front of the grocery store, she was ringing a bell, a women dressed in all red, a person volunteering her time to the Salvation Army. She was collecting money and asking for donations. This gave me a new idea for a place that I could volunteer my time for assessment. I also thought that it would be a very beneficial place to volunteer there. Before, I saw this I was going back and forth between ideas. Furthermore, when I saw the lady out side the store it seemed like a really great idea. I thought that it would be a good place to make a difference in the community. I knew that I could help a lot of people and also support the Salvation Army. A world wide charity, that operates in 81 countries around the world and serves in 175 different languages (poverty). It gave me a chance to work at a site that no one else in my class worked at. Choosing the Salvation Army around the holiday season was very rewording because they raise so much money 23 million from the kettle bells, alone a year (Salvation). I knew it would be an excellent place to for my assessment but also a challenging place and I had a great experience volunteering there.
I had many challenges while volunteering at the Salvation Army. One specific one was the trouble of getting there. My site was in New London and I had to plan out the dates to fit into my schedule, sports and homework. Having 6 snow days that fell right on my visits was a challenge to reschedule also. Although I had these challenges in addition it taught me how to plan in advance, and communicate with other people to get things done. When I was packaging toys for children the day before Christmas, I had a hard time seeing how little they had. I felt very fortunate that I was getting presents for Christmas and they would be getting little to nothing. Another challenge while volunteering was watching people walk into the store with not the right winter gear, no coats, hats, gloves when the winter conditions were severe. They didn’t have much at all. These are some challenges I found while working at my site, but they made my site so much more memorable.
I feel very strongly that I did a bundle of good things for people while volunteering. I helped people around the holiday season. One thing I did was hand out presents to parents; they could then go home and give them to their children on Christmas morning. I feel this was very rewording because I know that they wouldn’t have had Christmas presents other wise. Furthermore, I feel like I helped the volunteers, they had been volunteering long hours and when I was there they could take a brake. So I felt good that I helped them with the harder tasks. This was beneficial to me in many ways. I did something to help and make myself realize more about people struggling in poverty. It opened my eyes to what else is out there. I helped not just the people in poverty but also the workers and myself.
My research has helped me along the way of this project. One thing it has helped me with is to understand actual numbers and amounts of people in poverty. For instance one in four children live in house holds that struggle to put food on the table and provide clothing. That’s about 16.7 million children (Bread). Additionally, how 925 million people are hungry in the world (Children). I have learned a lot about the reasons people are in poverty. It has made it more clear to me why so many people don’t have jobs. That’s one of the things the Salvation Army does by having inexpensive clothing that has been donated it helps those family just staying above poverty put that money to other bills. In just 2010 the economy put 100-150 million into poverty. (Poverty) The research has related a lot to my work. It has shown me that just because there’s a lot of people in poverty doesn’t mean there is no hope. There are also so many people fighting to help those that are less fortunate. These are just a couple of things that helped me in my volunteering at the Salvation Army.
There are many things from To Kill A Mockingbird that I could relate to my work at the Salvation Army. One thing is when Jem goes to read to Mrs.Dubose, he is very nervous. Atticus says, “Just once a week Jem”(Lee). We also had to do a visit almost once a week. I had never been inside and I didn’t know what the people would be like. Like Jem I ended up enjoying my visits. I learned a lot and so did Jem. Every time I went for my visit like Jem I was nervous because I didn’t know what I was going to have to do that day. Jem, even though he didn’t like it that much he learned about how sad Mrs. Dubose was. I learned about people in poverty and how not all of them are sad. I learned that most of them have accepted it and aren’t sad or disappointed in themselves any more they have learned to live with it and make the best of it.
Now after the whole experience, looking back I would have done some things differently. One of thing would definitely be to have gotten the majority of my visits done earlier. The reason is because at the end of the assessment project and I had to do some of my visits very close to the end deadline. We had a lot of additional English homework so I should have had them done earlier, to balance things out. I also had a period where I was very stressed out about finishing the visits. Another thing that I would have done is pick a place that was closer to my house. This wasn’t a big problem but since we had so much snow it was hard to get there and back and reschedule visits. Even though I got a lot of work done and helped a lot of people I would find myself doing the same or close to the same task over again. If I could do this again I would choose a site that could give me more variety. Although saying that I did learn a lot, experience new things, and had a good time volunteering at the Salvation Army, and it has changed me in many ways.
My assessment visits at the Salvation Army have changed me. One thing it has done is embark my eyes to not only local poverty that we see but global poverty. The people that I helped didn’t have any extra money to spend on food and water. They can’t provide presents for their children. It had made me appreciate how fortunate I am. I get to wear nice clothing, that keep me warm during the months of winter. Unlike other people that I saw come into the Salvation Army. I also get to eat three meals a day and snack are there when I am hungry. Lastly I get to have a great education, which most children and parents dream about. The education that my class mates and I get, some people in the world can’t even imagine. I feel very fortunate to have been able to help out at the Salvation Army and make a difference for others in our community.
Over the past 2 months I have grown, learned, and helped many people. At first I wasn’t looking forward to the assessment the site work, the book work, and the writing. Along the way I started to realize that it is very rewording and I enjoyed all the time at my site, and researching my topic. I am very grateful that we had to do this project. This project has changed me for the better.
Works Cited
Allard, Scott W. “Poverty.” World Book Student. N.p., 9 Feb. 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. <http://Www.worldbookonline.com>.
Bread. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. <http://www.bread.org>.
Creer, Simon. “Poverty .” EBSCO Host. N.p., 6 Feb. 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. <http://Www.ebscohost.com/poverty/creer >.
Dinan, Kinsey Alden. “Children In Poverty .” National Centerror Children In Poverty . N.p., 2 Feb. 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. <http://www.nccp.org>.
“Salvation Army.” Wikipedia. Non-Profit Organization, 30 Jan. 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. <http://Www.wikipedia.org>.
“The Salvation Army .” Www.1.usw.salvation army.org. Salvation Army, 4 Jan. 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. <http://Www.1.usw.salvation army.org>.
“Salvation Army History.” Salvation Army Offical SIte. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. <http://Www.salvationarmyusa.com>.
Shah, Anup. “Poverty In the U.S.” Global Issuses : n. pag. Global Issues in Context. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. <http://www.globalissuses.org/article/26/>.
“Suffering Children .” Iconn 17 Feb. 2011: n. pag. ICON Global Intelligence. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. <http://www.iconn.org>.
White, Jerry. “Poverty.” World Socialist Web Site. International Comittee of The Fourth International, 1 Jan. 2011. Web. 22 Dec. 2010. <http://www.wsws.ord>.
No comments:
Post a Comment