Cheer Camp and Homeless Outreach (2 in 1)

Some of my volunteer hours came from something I did with the Cheer team. We had a cheer camp for K-8th graders, that go to our schools. We then split all the attendees in half. I was with the peewees. This consisted of girls from the ages 4-10. We had decided to teach them a lot of things that day. We started with jumps. Went on to 2 cheers. Showed them small stunts. Then ended with a dance. Throughout the entire time, it was really fun to see how the girls grew, and got better as we went along. I got to spend time with some of the purest souls, while I was giving up a Friday afternoon. But I loved it. It was rewarding in the sense of giving to some little girl, and knowing she probably wont say "Thank you", but she are thankful. I'm so glad I volunteered to do it with them, and look forward to doing it again.

Some other volunteer hours came from doing homeless outreach. My church does something called H.O.P.E., and every Saturday we go down to a building along 7th street, prepare tons of food, and homeless people come and eat. But what my church does a bit differently, is once we are done serving them, we all grab a plate of food too, and go and sit and eat with them. We are encouraged to talk to them. Ask about their story, how they are doing, and interact with them like they are normal people, coming over to your house for dinner. My church has realized that often time, the way we treat homeless people doesn't look all that great. We may be treating them well, but if we aren't engaging them and treating them like any other person, then we are not doing our job right, in helping them. Doing H.O.P.E., I meet all kinds of people that talk about all kinds of things, and act in so many different ways. Some people blatantly ignore you, some are rude, others are completely grateful, some are not and complain about the food provided, some tell you crazy stories about their lives, others tell you what a blessing you are to them. The list really goes on. But the point is to never act like we are feeding the homeless. Its to act as if we are feeding are fellow neighbors. Which is actually in the Bible. There is a parable about a man holding a banquet, and all of his guests who said the were coming, gave phony excuses not to come, so he told his servant to gather all the people in the streets, the "lower-class" people, and proclaimed that his old guests would not taste his banquet, because there were those who would truly appreciate it, and he could interact with at a human level, rather than a class level. I like to make the correlation between the two, because so often we do forget to treat others as humans, as opposed to their social standing or class.

So, I guess that wasn't a reflection on one single event, but every time I've done H.O.P.E., all put together, being reflected on, and analyzed.

Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat

This Halloween instead of trick or treating I decided to collect food with the Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat program (TTSOCE). I enjoyed collecting the mound of food I did and was very surprised at the willingness of the community to donate their food. Every single person's door who I stopped at donated food. I managed to fill a box (24"x10"x12") to the brim with cans and other non-perishables. Many of the people were very pleased at the fact that me and my group of friends had chosen to do this. Some even offered us candy still. Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience and I'd do it again.

Full box of canned food!

working in Santas workshop

last Friday I worked for five hours at the copper trails Santa shop.  What I did was I helped the kids put the presents they bought into bags.  I also help them put there names and who the present was for on the bags. I really in joyed helping the kids put bags on the presents. I don't think that there was one moment were the store wasn't busy the whole time I was at the Santa shop.

zach pederson

Halloween Management

On Halloween, instead on going trick or treating, I volunteered at my church's trunk and treat. I ended up spending the whole night running a schedule of performances of a skit. I ran around making sure that everyone in the skit had the supplies that they needed and that they were on stage for their performance at the exact time. Everything ran smoothly, but I was stressing out the whole time. I learned that I can manage people very easily, but I also stress out about every little detail when I am managing people. It was pretty amazing to see the crowd react to the performance though. It made me realize that the community doesn't care about all of the little details, it is about the message the skit portrays. As a leader in many different aspects, I have learned to not focus on the details so much, but to focus on the whole picture and take it for what it is.

Loving On Children No Matter Who They Are

Every Sunday from 8:30 to 10:00 for the past two years, I have watched, taken care of, done crafts with, and taught 2 and 3 year olds at my church. I have had the chance to leave a mark on these young children and ultimately, truly see what it is like to be a parent and taking care of children who are dependent upon you. I have definitely gained patience from this experience and have learned how to control my anger when my expectations aren't met by these youngsters. I have learned that I am someone that does not handle the things that children of that age do very well and their reactions to things either, but with working with children I have gained patience and have learned how to love on them unconditionally. I have also gotten the opportunity to care for foster children and have gotten to love on them and show them that they are not alone. I believe it has truly impacted my life the most, to see young children grow into outgoing loving toddlers. From this experience, I have learned that my community is a messed up place, but with love and care it can turn into something amazing and can build up our future to be better than our present. From what I have experienced from working with the foster children that I teach, I have now started going to group homes and visiting teenagers stuck in the foster system to let them know they are cared about.

Apple Bees

Volunteering at Apple Bees for a volleyball fundraiser.

            In this experience I worked as an expo to get the consumers breakfasts to their tables for a volleyball fundraiser. I spent 3 hours in back with kitchen calling out orders to the cooks and yelling names of the ‘Servers’ (volleyball girls) who were to bring the food to their tables. Although I work in restaurant myself, I realized how difficult it can be to deal with people who do not know what they are doing in that type of situation. I learned the importance of stepping up and being a leader as well. This whole experience was a rather crazy mess. No one knew what they doing, let alone how to serve food or gather it from the back. I had to step up and create a system of who was next to receiving their order of food. Although this system was just writing their name on a piece of paper, as if a ticket for the food had been sent it. In the middle of calling out names, orders, and telling others what they needed to do and what needed to be done.  I realized that everyone had seemed to come to me with all the little problems/questions. I learned that in a time of need I am able to step up and take charge when no one else will, and how important it is to have a leader when others have no one else to turn to. I can apply this to other parts of my life because having the courage to take charge is hard for most to do and being a leader I have the ability to create a change with my ideas.

tutoring

For one of my volunteer experiences I helped tutor the younger odyssey scholars in math. This was actually a very interesting experience for me. It was different because I realized that although I am in a higher math class and I am good at math. Trying to teach a younger student how to do a simple math problem that he/she does not understand is very difficult. For me 15+5 is simple knowledge, of course it is equal to 20, yet trying to explain how this works to a 6^th grader that is a few grades behind in math is very difficult. I learned that being a teacher is very hard. I could not explain that math equation to the younger student on how to do it without giving them the answer. Yet, Mr. Mcnett mad it look so easy when he was able to explain it to the child. I can apply this to my life because I realized that teaching at a younger level does not seem like something I should do. With some of the older students I was able to show them how to do the problems without giving them the answer, as long as they knew their basic math. Even though this was a bit challenging for me I still enjoyed spending time with the younger kids.

A Touched Heart

A few weeks ago I had the privilege to serve in my church nursery. Don't get me wrong, I like kids but I had had a rough week and really wasn't feeling it. There were about 10 baby/toddlers in total. But one in particular stood out. It was a little boy who wasn't supposed to be in the nursery because he was a little bit older then the other kids, but because he had down syndrome his parents wanted him to be with his younger brother. He was so extraordinarily happy. I made this comment to the lady who was also watching the kids with me. She said that usually kids with special needs can sense their parents attitude on the situation which can kinda help shape their personalities. I thought this was so beautiful. It's kinda how every one works. In a way our situations shape us. Before I helped on that morning I was totally opposed to the idea of ever working with special needs kids. Not because I had anything against them but because I was scared. I think that day helped shape my view on a lot of things and now next time I won't be so afraid.

You Can't Do It

Now, I know what you're thinking. What a terrible title right? Well, my first reflection isn't about something I actually did, but about something I didn't do. This past Saturday I went to a blood drive with my dad. I had everything ready, my ID, birth certificate and arm. I asked how long the process would take and the woman said it should only take about 45 minutes. I followed the nurse back and she asked me questions and typed the answers on the computer like my age, birthplace, medical history and height. The final question was how much did I weigh. She typed it in and then told me that I couldn't do it. I couldn't give blood because of something like "my blood mass index wasn't high enough for me to give blood while I was a minor". I was both disappointed and relieved at the same time. I had really wanted to do something good but at the same time I was deathly afraid of giving blood. But as I sat in the waiting area for my dad I began to notice something. A lot of the people that were there to give blood were older, probably 55+. Honestly, this touched my heart. For many of those people it was probably a big deal to give blood, but they did it anyway. I have been having a rough time lately and it was awesome to just see that there still is good in the world and it assured me that even when you're older you don't have to let certain circumstances stand in your way. You can always find something to do to make even a small difference in the world.

Last Friday I helped first graders they read to me there fravorite books. were I volunteered was Copper trails. When I walked in to the class rooms the first graders were excited to see me. It was intresting to see all of there reactions. They all had questions they wanted to ask me. The most asked question I was asked was how old I was or  whats my name. The teacher asked them to give her there names on a list s I could read to them.

zach pederson

Helping Olson

Mrs. Olson is very busy with being the founder of the school and everything else she does so I have spent time this school year helping her with the athletic department. I have done filing, scheduling, emails, and organizing to help her so she has time for her other responsibilities. It is flexible to her time and my time but has also given me life skills for the future.