Community Service

I've been going nearly every Wednesday from about 4:15 to 6:30 pm since last year to Bernie's Book Bank with a group from my church. Since I didn't start going because of the class I'll talk about my experiences from before I started going. My brother had been a leader for the groups at my church going to PADS and book bank for most of his senior year and around February my parents told me that I had to start going with him. At first, I was pretty angry and confused as to why they were sentencing me to community service with my brother but after going a few times, I got to know some people that I went with a lot better, and also had a chance to meet Brian (the guy who started the whole thing), and Greg, who has been around a lot more this year than last. In understanding what the actual goal of this place was, it helped me to see what my part was exactly in the whole scheme of things. It was pretty eye opening to me to see that some kids even in our area don't have the money to afford books to read. When I was a little kid, reading was pretty much all I did because of how shy I was, and I can't even imagine how different my life would be if I didn't have that opportunity.
At Bernie's, I did a number of tasks, most of them mundane and involving books. I never really expected the work to be fun, but it's so simple that talking with people around you is extremely easy to do and still continue with the work. I learned that the more that I did something, the less I thought about it until I could pretty much do it without thinking. When it got to that point, it made me realize that serving there took little to no effort from me in order to help countless kids. It's cool to know all the people who work there and to know what I'm doing so I can invite people with. I pretty much had to fill my brother's spot when he went to college, so I drive a group of kids there and back to the church every week, and it's even given me a chance to reach out to younger students who I didn't even know went to Stevenson.
In completing the service hours requirement, I feel like it doesn't even really matter how many hours I spent there. It was a lot more than ten, but to be honest, I don't think that that was the point of the assignment. I learned through this experience that there are so many simple ways that we can serve our community that we just overlook every day. We have so much that we take for granted, when there are kids around us who don't even have books to read in school. Community service doesn't have to be a punishment or a homework assignment, and it shouldn't be. It is what you make it, and personally, I like knowing that I can do something to help other people. (Sal - if you want specific dates, have me email you them because I'd be happy to figure it out, I thought you would rather hear about my experience than get a list of dates!)