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Before, the area had been a despairing sight — dead trees, broken benches, more litter and rubbish on the ground than grass. Now, it was bright and cheerful, filled to the brim with new life, and standing as a sign of community where earlier there had just been emptiness. Not only did the area look immensely better, but also people who had participated felt an immeasurable amount of pride and happiness with how they had spent their day; that was the reward of volunteering in one’s community, and it was priceless.
Their faces bright with smiles and feeling rewarded by the results of the day’s work, the kind citizens grouped themselves around the green-and-white sign while the man who had organized the group set the timer on his camera and hurried back. Red lights blinked once, twice, three times and flash! Smiling, the dozen or so people said their farewells, gathered the children they were responsible for and climbed back into awaiting cars.
Several years later, as the man looks back through a box of old photographs with his grandchildren, one-picture surfaces. It shows a group of beaming people positioned around a sign, which reads, “Ennenga Park,” with a younger version of that grandfather standing proudly at one side, smiling out of the picture up at himself some years later. The older version looks down at the photograph, remembering that day, and smiling back.
Why volunteering in my community is important
Kenton Falbo,
Eighth Grade at Parkrose Middle School
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| Jerry Guthrie, left, congratulates and awards 6th graders Evelyn Perez and Juan Ramirez, two winners in the inaugural Guthrie Family Essay Contest during the final assembly at Parkrose Middle School in June. This inaugural essay contest is sponsored by Jerry Guthrie and co-presented by Parkrose School District and SnowCap Community Charities. |
| MEMO PHOTO: TIM CURRAN |
Another time my friends and I went to a home for elderly people with disabilities. Some of them were in wheelchairs or couldn’t walk well. We played checkers, dominoes, chess and many other things. The people who worked there gave us ice cream.
The third time my friends and I went to the YMCA Arts Camp and taught little kids how to make paper airplanes, swans and fortune-tellers. We also picked up trash and pulled weeds in their parking lot.
My fourth time volunteering was at the Dougy Center Arts Auction. I helped with selling stuff made by friends of mine.
There are a lot of different ways and reasons to volunteer in your community. For example, you could go around your neighborhood and pick up trash. If you take a plastic bag with you and pick up cans and bottles, you could recycle at a store and get five cents each for them. If you pick up paper, you can recycle it at home.
One reason to do it is because it makes your community look nice. You can go around and pick up any trash you see. If you do this a lot, there won’t be any trash in your community. If there weren’t any trash, your community would look better. Wouldn’t you like it if there were not any trash in your neighborhood? I know I sure would. Some examples of trash are plastic bags, cans and bottles (recycle those), and pieces of paper.
My second reason is that it helps people. I’ve gone to my grandma’s house and raked up leaves. Her neighbor across the street mows her lawn for her. You could do this for your neighbor or someone on your street.
You could mow their lawn, trim bushes, and weed their garden or plant flowers. You could also help them clean their house or wash their car. Some people might pay you, although it wouldn’t be volunteering if they did that.
My third reason is that it makes you feel good. After you’ve done a job like washing someone’s car, weeding someone’s garden or mowing his or her lawn, you feel good. You know they really appreciate it. Some jobs you do for them, they might not be able to do on their own (like mowing their lawn or washing their car) because they are disabled. The more often you do this, the more often you will feel good. You make them feel good.
Depending on what job you do, you also get exercise. Some jobs like this would be mowing a person’s lawn. Their lawn might be really big or on a hill. You will feel good because you got exercise instead of playing video games or watching TV.
Like I said before, helping out in your community is important. I hope the reasons I gave you have convinced or inspired you to help out in your community. It will make your community look nice and you will feel good doing it.
So, get a rake or a shovel and start helping your community.
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