The Difference between Serving and Volunteering

Like I said before, for the next few posts I will be posting various essays that I've written for scholarships and college applications. The following essay is about community service and volunteering for a scholarship from my school. Soon I will post my tips for writing essays for applications, so check back!
In this essay, I mention a documentary that I put together for school. My group members and I are very proud of our work on this documentary, and if you have time to spare, I would really appreciate if you watched it. http://vimeo.com/43697508
Anyways... on to the essay!

Many organizations require their participants to volunteer. I've been volunteering for various organizations my entire life, but it wasn't until last year that I learned how to serve, not just volunteer. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.”

The key part of this quote for me is the world “sincerely.” In order to truly serve, I can't just be there to get the hours that I need or to get moral brownie points. When I'm just volunteering it's so simple to get caught up in what I'm getting out of it, but when I'm serving, I am focused on what's best for the people that I'm serving rather than what I'm getting out of it. It's when I'm working to serve others than I am sincerely trying to help others.

In June, I volunteered at an event called Kid's University. I was a leader to a group of 2^nd and 3^rd grade kids who lived in shelters. To say they were a bit of a handful would be an understatement. I spent hours chasing rambunctious 7-9 year olds in circles around the room, but I never left a day unhappy. We took a class called “Crazy Critters” where a man came to teach the kids about different animals. I ended up holding a tree frog in my hand because one of the little girls wouldn't touch it unless I did. It was gross and slimy, but she lit up with giggles when the sticky feet wrapped around her finger. Later when we were learning about nutrition, the same little girl tried to give me her pasta because she saw that I didn't get any. This little girl and many kids like her are what taught me to be sincere in my serving, and not just volunteer for the hours.

Over this past year, I was assigned a project in American Studies at school. The project was to create a 12-15 minute, professional quality documentary on a nonprofit organization of our choice with a group of up to five people. With four of my closest friends, we started to work with an organization called Rainbow Days. A few weeks into the project, it was made optional. Too many groups were having problems working with and filming their organizations. Few groups continued on to finish the project, but we felt that we didn't have a choice. We were already emotionally invested in Rainbow Days, and this project was already bigger than ourselves.

Rainbow Days is a nonprofit organization in Dallas, TX. It works with homeless kids to try to break what's called the “cycle of homelessness” by teaching young children about the amazing things that life has to offer. Teaching kids how to make healthy choices, respond in various scenarios, and excel in life is Rainbow Days goal. Their mission statement is to “give kids a hope for a promising future,” and it was our job to catch all of this on film.

When you're trying to film for something like a documentary, you have to work to try to get certain emotions out of whoever you're working with, but at the same time, you're not working with actors. You can't look at a child and tell them to laugh or to look like they're having fun. You have to serve him/her and make sure that the child is having fun, so you can capture that delight on film. Working on this project, opened my eyes and showed me how to truly serve. Early on, it wasn't even about evoking the right emotions anymore: it was about making these kids smile.

There was this one little boy at Kid's University who was a real trouble maker. He wouldn't listen. He wouldn't participate. And he would run around the room when everyone was supposed to be sitting. I was getting quite flustered having to chase after him and reprimand him constantly. I hate to say it, but after dealing with this kid from 8-2 for 5 days, I was ready for him to “graduate.” At the end of the week, the kids get tiny graduation caps and gowns, so they can graduate from Kid's University. We were sitting in the auditorium where the graduation was held, and as my group of kids waited for their turn to walk across the stage, this little boy came up to me and asked to sit in my lap. Although I was confused, I let him, at least he was sitting.

After the ceremony, he introduced me to his mom. I noticed tears in her eyes, along with a lot of the other parents. They were so proud to see their little kids graduate even just from this summer camp. She thanked me for giving up my time, and as always I told her it was my pleasure. She then proceeded to share with me how tough his life at home has been recently. His dad left a few months ago, and she and her 3 sons were forced to go into a shelter. The transition to life in a shelter was hard for the whole family, and it was causing the older boys to act out. I was taken aback. I wasn't prepared for her to share her story with me, but I was so thankful that she did. This little boy's troublemaker nature started to make sense, and my heart went out to her and her family. Furthermore, she explained that he'd been coming home so happy and excited about his time at Kid's University. I was a bit confused. He spent much of the time having to sit alone or getting in trouble for his actions, but she told a very different story. She told me of how much he loved learning new things and how many new friends that he'd made. Before she left, she gave me a big hug and once again thanked me for all I'd done. Her son gave me a hug too, and he told me he'd miss me. As I watched she and her son drive away, the little boy waved from the backseat.

When the car left the parking lot, there was no “sigh of relief” like I had expected after dealing with him all week. I was sad to see him go. I wanted to love on him even more. This is when I first realized what Emerson meant when he said to be “sincere.” Every morning at 8 before the kids arrived at Kids University, I had to remind myself, “You're here to serve. This isn't about you.” I did whatever was needed of me, and I chose to be active. Although I had to give myself mini pep talks every morning, I worked to be sincere and wholehearted in serving. By the end of the week, I learned how true it is that when your whole heart is in serving, you get so much more out of it.

The little boy definitely left his mark on my heart, and when I thought that I was teaching him, whether it was how to behave or the lessons, he was teaching me how to be thankful and positive. The kids at Rainbow Days taught me so much more than I could've possibly taught them. They taught me how to praise God for the many blessings in my life, to have hope and positivity because we have been given everyday as a gift, and to serve.

One little girl was being bullied by the kids at school because she came from a homeless shelter. She rode the bus to school everyday, so they were able to see which stop she got on at. They would make fun of her and mock her, calling her poor. She was telling a member of Rainbow Days's staff about all of this, and she asked the staff member, “Am I poor?”

Trained to deal with these kinds of questions, the staff member asked her, “Well, what do you think?”

“No. I think God gives every person exactly what they need.”

I volunteered with tons of different people and organizations before I worked with Rainbow Days. I even worked with Rainbow Days before junior year, but this past year my whole outlook on community service was flipped upside down. Rainbow Days showed me how to be sincere in service, and if I could recommend anything to someone of any age about community serivice, I would tell him/her to work wholeheartedly and with sincerity because he/she can't help but be helped. If he/she is really serving, the impact goes far beyond what could possibly be expected. Working to put smiles on the kids' faces at Rainbow Days always puts a smile on my face. I don't think I can ever give them as much as they've given me. Since working with Rainbow Days, I try not to volunteer. Instead, I try to serve.

120 days until I move in... Until then, keep calm and boomer sooner!