On Saturday September 10, 2011 I attended my first Stockton Day of Service.  The experience thrust me into an unfamiliar environment and challenged me to do new things.  I was assigned to help out the ESWA, or Eastern Service Worker’s Association.  The organization offers aid to local low income workers and seeks to help them in any way possible.  The ESWA fights for the lowering of costs of utilities like electricity and gas.  The ESWA allows workers to join their cause for only an optional cost of 62 cents per month for dues.  The organization meets often and discusses other ways it can help its members.

I arrived at the headquarters of the ESWA having no idea of what I would be doing for the day.  I learned my task would be to go door to door in a neighborhood and spread the word of the ESWA to those who may be in need of its services.  Everyone broke off into teams of 3-4 to accomplish the task quicker and with more efficiency.  My team’s leader had previously done a door to door scenario and guided us along.  Many houses we stopped at had no one home or nobody answered the door.   We were however successful in getting information out to several people who seemed to be interested.  While others flat out said no, we were not discouraged and managed to cover a large area in such a short time.  The experience was definitely good for me and helped me to get a look into the lives of those who are not as fortunate as me.  The service project which I was assigned was not really what I was used to or expected after filling out the short survey online for pre-registration.  Thought, at the end of the day I was just glad that I could be of assistance to an organization that fights for the people who need help the most.