Volunteering at Habitat for Humanity

For the past few years I have volunteered off and on at my local Habitat for Humanity Restore. The Restore takes donations of household items such as furniture, appliances, and even decorations from the public. The store then sells those items at low rates to others in the community who could not otherwise afford those items. The profits made at the store are then used to construct houses through the Habitat for Humanity for low income families.

Before I began volunteering there in high school, I was unaware that the Habitat for Humanity Restore existed. I knew friends who had worked with Habitat for Humanity to build houses, but had not heard of anyone volunteering in their Restore. Physically building the houses with the Habitat for Humanity was not exactly a form of volunteering that appealed to me, so I was excited to find another way to help out the organization.

While volunteering there, I helped unload donations from the back of trucks, organize furniture and shelves, place prices on items, as well as help customers locate items that they were looking for. My shifts there were never dull because there was always something to do and new shipments of donations arriving multiple times a day. I made so many friends there who were volunteering alongside me who I would not normally have a chance to interact with otherwise.

Overall it was an amazing experience being able to be a volunteer there. It was amazing to see how many people were impacted by being able to buy essentials for their houses at a lower cost. Since many families could not afford to buy new items at the store, shopping at the restore was their only resort. I’m extremely thankful that my community has a resources like this since most second hand shops do not sell hardware and appliances for house. I loved being able to meet the people I was helping as well as the idea that the patrons who were shopping there were also helping since their money spent there was going towards building houses for low income families. I was thrilled to find out that volunteering there would fill my service requirement for the Honors Program at Stockton since it’s already a part of my life. It’s amazing to be able to continue to volunteer there and be able to see the progress I help make there over time.

When I decided to join Honors at Stockton, my main interest in the program was the ability to help my community. After being a Girl Scout for over twelve years, I knew I would need to take part in something that would allow me to continue the service that I completed within Girl Scouts and to keep that sense of teamwork and leadership. So far, the Honors Program has not let me down. A few weeks ago I spent a Saturday working with 400 other students at the Stockton University Fall Day of Service.
The Day of Service was an event that brought together multiple different volunteer organizations such as Rise Against Hunger, Books Without Borders, and Ronald McDonald House. As a volunteer I was separated into a group where I then rotated between several different service opportunities. These ranged from information sessions, to hands on work, to discussion sessions. Not only did these coincide with the requirements that I will have to complete later in Honors, they also were a great opportunity to find what kind of volunteer work I would be interested in continuing.
I was sorted into the Red group where our first activity was constructing simple three page coloring books and decorating them for an organization named Circle K. My friend Stephanie and I worked in a small group where we created around 20 coloring books and constructed extra so the next group was prepared. This kind of volunteer work was very familiar to what I was used to with Girl Scouts, helping my community in small ways that may seem easy to complete, but will change someone’s entire day.
The second event I took part in was a small information session on drug use and addiction. Hearing two different speakers discuss addiction and drug use, and how addiction is a disease was very impactful. They also discussed ways we could help those struggling with drug addiction such as a training course on Naloxone (Narcan), a drug to treat those who have overdosed, that will be held on October twelfth at Stockton.
The third volunteer activity was very hands on, our group helped take part in the goal of making 45,000 meals for those who have limited access to necessities such as food. I worked with four other Honors students and constructed the bags of rice, dried vegetables, bread and seasoning. Our group worked as part of a much larger team that together filled the bags, weighed them, and packaged them. This volunteer work is what stuck with me the most, being directly involved in the process of helping those in need. Much like making boxes of supplies for those in the military like I did with Scouts, the feeling of teamwork and the overall happy mood of so many people working together at a common goal is what I hope to continue to be a part of in my work within the Honors Program at Stockton. Together as a large community, everyone at the Day of Service reached the goal of making 45,000 meals, was given the ability to spread awareness on drug addiction, and helped numerous other organizations with their ambition to help the world around them.

I woke up earlier than I had wanted my first Saturday morning at Stockton University, but I knew my day was going to have a lot of meaning to me, so I powered through my initial desire to fall back asleep and got ready for my day. I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect, but I hoped to leave feeling good about the work I’d done that day.

My first activity of the day was to sew pillows out of old fabric for AtlantiCare. My mom works for Children’s Specialized Hospital, so I knew she’d love what I was doing. Although I had never sewn anything in my life, an upperclassmen who had done this before was a huge help and taught me a simple sewing technique and so my service to my community started. That first girl who helped me really made me think that the Honors Program was one big community within the school. I wasn’t able to get an idea of that until she helped me learn how to sew. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish my pillow because of the time constraint mixed with my hardly amateur sewing skills. So, I moved on to my second activity of the day.

My next activity, which was my absolute favorite by far, was the meal packaging activity. My job was to refill the tubs of grain and rice while everyone else had various jobs of filling, weighing, and packaging the meals. The part of the activity I liked the best was hearing the coordinator yell out every 10,000 meals we packed. I was amazed how quickly we hit each 10,000 meal threshold and how many total meals we packaged: 10,000 in one hour! Although I hear the cliché saying, “Even a small number of people can make a huge difference!” a lot, this activity really made me live it out and I’m so proud that we could all make a huge impact on so many people.

My next activity was, honestly, the most underwhelming part of my day. I sat in the small theater in the campus center lobby and listened to a talk centered on New Jersey’s opioid epidemic and Chris Christie’s efforts to curb drug addiction in the state. It gave a lot of good information, but I craved real service and being active while sitting there. After the talk, I moved onto my last activity.

My last activity of the day was the Civic Service activity where we were able to “vote with our feet” and debate hot social issues. I liked this activity because I was able to hear different perspectives on issues that I had a very narrow perspective on. I actually changed my mind on one of the issues while people were debating, for which I was given praise by one of the people coordinating the activity. After we finished voting with our feet, I made a political poster that was posted on a wall with a lot of others. Some were funny, some were serious, but overall, I appreciated the wide variety of issues that Stockton students were passionate about. Can you guess which one was mine?

I’d give high ratings for the day as a whole. I learned a lot about how people can work together to make differences in the world, and it was a great first impression I had of the Honors Program at Stockton. Everyone was so helpful and so friendly, and I am so proud to be a part of the Honors Program.

On September 9, 2017, Stockton University held its annual Day of Service.  Through this day of service, students and community members came together to help in four service projects.  These services included bagging food for people in Africa, learning and getting involved in local politics, spreading the word about alcoholism and how to help, and creating crafts for children in the hospital.

My favorite service was bagging food for the people in Africa who do not have enough food to eat.  During this service, my group was broken up into five groups of various sizes to do certain jobs.  In my case, I was one of twelve people sealed the bags of rice.  After about twenty bags or so, I got into a rhythm of completely sealing the bags.  At first, it was difficult to get the bag flat so that I could properly seal the bag.  However, I found that if I folded the bag a certain way, I would have been able to completely seal the bag with no air holes.  Finding this rhythm really helped me seal as many bags as I could.  Our group was able to bag a total of 10,000 bags of food.

It really impacted me because I knew that I was directly helping people in another part of the world.  Each bag we produced could feed either a family of four for one meal or four meals for one person.  After we packaged the 10,000 meals, I wanted to keep going and package more.  I felt complete after helping with this service because I knew I was helping people who were living in very difficult areas and could not support themselves nor their families.  We were able to make a difference in these people’s lives.

Each service had its own unique purpose.  Two of the service projects – bagging food for people in Africa and creating crafts for children in a hospital – were hands-on that directly impacted people in need.  The crafts that we created will help make the children in the hospitals feel less sick.  The purpose was to help them feel better.  The other two service projects – getting involved in local politics and spreading the word about alcoholism – educated me about each.  Even though I am not currently active politics, I know that I can easily be part of it on campus and that Stockton University is a safe place to do so.  Also, I now know how and where to get help and information regarding alcohol poisoning and the like.

I really enjoyed being part of these service projects.  They made me realize how lucky and privileged I am to be living where I am.  I wish that the rest of the world could be as privileged as the United States and myself.  Even though doing these small projects may seem small and pointless, they can and will mean the world to at least one other person in the world.  That is what community service is about, making someone else’s life better through the kindness of your heart.

My roommate and I laughing at each other

On Saturday, September 23rd, I decided to embark on a canoeing and kayaking trip hosted  by Stockton’s Get Centered office of student programming. I had seen the advertising poster on the wall outside of my dorm about a week prior to the event, but I was hesitant to go until my roommate pointed to the poster and expressed her interest in the trip. Relieved that I would have someone familiar to hang out with, I decided to hand in my $5.00 to the campus center information desk and reserve my spot. By this point, I was excited because I had always wanted to go canoeing and I had also been looking for other ways to get involved around campus.

The good thing about the trip was that the buses didn’t leave until 1:00 in the afternoon, which ensured that I’d be able to catch up on my Saturday beauty sleep (this girl does not like to get up early on the weekends). Despite having ample time to get ready, my roommate and I still found ourselves sprinting towards the campus center at 12:55, hoping desperately that the bus hadn’t left without us. It hadn’t. We climbed aboard just in time and the buses pulled out of the parking lot.

The poster had said that the canoeing trip would last from 1:00 to 5:00, so silly me, assuming we would not be canoeing for almost five hours, had brought along earbuds and a snack for the expected long bus ride. But to my surprise, around only 20 minutes into the trip, the bus pulled into the parking lot of Palace Restaurant and Outfitters, a canoeing center in my hometown of Mays Landing. Stunned at the fact that I had never been to nor heard of this place, I google mapped my location and realized that we were only eight minutes away from my house! This news excited yet also annoyed me, as I had always wanted to go canoeing but never knew that the means to do so were easily accessible.

After getting off of the bus, our group made its way to the big vans parked in front of the restaurant. The employees explained that they would drive us to the beginning of Weymouth Furnace, where we would start our journey. Hesitantly, my roommate and I boarded our two-person kayak and started paddling down the furnace. I was in charge of paddling, while she handled the steering part. We were doing a pretty good job for the most part, only running into problems when we accidentally hit low-hanging branches or veered off course. And even during those times, we laughed at our amatuer kayaking skills and at how ridiculous we looked. We got a lot of great pictures as well. I especially enjoyed listening to calming music as we paddled and viewing the river-side properties as we sped by. By the time we reached the end of the furnace, our arms were tired but our hearts were full.

I now have so many great memories of that day that I wouldn’t trade for the world. I look forward to participating in more weekend events sponsored by Get Centered in the future.

Stockton hosted an event known as the Get Involved Fair on the 19th and 20th of September. The Get Involved Fair is essentially a multitude of clubs, volunteer opportunities, fraternities, and sororities that each set up their own table in order to attract new members. The Get Involved Fair is one of the best ways to get involved on campus, for all the clubs at Stockton could be found there. Being involved both on and off campus, whether it be planting new tomato plants with the garden club or playing sports with special needs children, is essential in order to build a resume. A resume stock-full with a combination of clubs, volunteer hours, and sports makes the resume far more appealing to potential employers. Additionally, clubs and activities are the best way to make friends considering they obviously share a common interest if they join the same club. The Get Involved Fair facilitates making connections and building an impressive resume.

In between classes I decided to stop by the Get Involved Fair considering the tables lined up through multiple different wings on campus, so it was difficult to avoid. Candy and free stuff were being offered by pretty much all of the clubs and members of greek life in order to grab people’s attention. Luckily, I was able to snag up two free pens, two lanyards, a pop-socket, and a card holder to stick to the back of my phone. The free stuff was not the only reason I attended the fair, however. I arrived to the fair in hopes of joining Physical Therapy club and Marine Science club. I left the fair with more opportunities than I imagined.

My first stop at the fair was of course the table for the Atlantic County Animal Shelter. The only reason I walked up to the table was because there was an adorable dog named Tiny that I just had to pet. I had a great conversation with the woman who worked at the shelter about dog training and just dog behavior in general. I have been taking care of dogs my whole life since my mom is a dog breeder, so I had a good idea of what volunteering at an animal shelter entails. They were looking for people to bathe, feed and socialize the animals, and I was very interested because I already know how to do all of that. Especially since I am in college I miss my dogs so much and taking care of other animals would make me miss them less, so I decided to sign up. My next stop was at the table for Undergraduate Physical Therapy club. My major is health sciences with a concentration in Pre-Physical Therapy, so I decided to join the club in hopes of becoming more knowledgeable about Stockton’s graduate Physical Therapy program. My roommate also joined Physical Therapy club, so it is another way me and her can bond. Marine Science club was the next club I signed up for because I have always been obsessed with marine life, sharks especially. They do volunteer work such as cleaning up beaches, and I want to do everything I can in order to help save the oceans and everything that lives in them. Next, studying abroad has always been in the back of my mind as something that could be an option for me in the future since I love traveling. Learning about other cultures while also learning about something I love sounds amazing. So, I stopped by the study abroad table, put my name down, and grabbed a ton of informational brochures. Lastly, I signed up for a food kitchen because I just like helping people and talking to people. I have experience waitressing, so taking care of people is something I am used to doing and I love. Although a food kitchen is not really like a restaurant, it is similar enough as far as the social aspect and I’m sure I would still enjoy it. I went to the fair in hopes of joining just two organizations, but I ended up joining five. All in all, the Get Involved Fair was a great idea and I am so glad I went.

The Honors Program at Stockton University is a great way to help students get involved. Through service initiatives, students are offered the opportunity to contribute to community efforts and work to make any difference possible. As freshman entering the program, it is the perfect way to become a part of the school and meet new people. The program has not only inspired me to join clubs but also encouraged me to be as active as I can in the community around me and step out of my comfort zone to try new things.

Stockton provides many extracurricular opportunities for students through a wide array of clubs. This variety of clubs ensures there is something that can attract each individual’s interest. One of those is a renowned international service organization, Circle K. Circle K works to encourage college students to become active members in their community and build qualities of leadership through service. One of the many ways to participate is through Project Linus, a weekly service event in which students make teddy bears and pillows for children in hospitals.

Named perfectly after the blanket-carrying and compassionate character from Charlie Brown, Project Linus is an organization that aims to provide blankets to children who are ill or in need. From Stockton University, students are able to expand on these children’s gifts and make their own stuffed animals and pillows to provide for them. Through the program, college students can actively work to lessen the burden of the harsh reality some children face daily in this world.

Being in the presence of other students who were filled with happiness while creating something special for another person felt simply rewarding. The thought alone of helping to form a smile on the face of a young person who has been through so much inspired me instantly. Though the room was small, the happiness and compassion that filled it simply could not be ignored Through music and chatter, our small yet determined group cut, stitched and stuffed teddy bears and pillows in a variety of patterns and colors. Next week, the project will continue offering more children a token of comfort in their lives.

Project Linus offers students the opportunity to have a small yet direct impact on those around them while contributing a little bit of happiness and light into the lives of those is difficult circumstances. This event puts into perspective how life is never easy, even for innocent children. However, there is always something you can do, no matter the size of the gesture, to provide some comfort or safety for those in need.