Helping Mein Neighbors Move

During March, I helped my neighbors move (as you can probably deduce from the title). These neighbors were really close friends of mine. Each of our families had moved in at around the same time and their kids were friends with my little sisters. Needless to say we talked to them a lot and had spent a tremendous amount of time together. Seeing them have to move was heartbreaking to say the least. There had been a lot of neighbors that have moved away from our neighborhood, but to see them go after everything was hard to deal with. However, I was happy to help them move when they had asked if I would be willing to help. It was a long day (approximately 9 hours) and there was a ton of large furniture items to move as well as all the other small items. Eventually, we finally ended up transferring all the furniture from their old house to their new one. Although it was sad to see them go, I was glad I was able to make them noticeably happy before one last time before it was time to say goodbye to them. They do still live nearby, but it is not the same as in the same neighborhood. I am really happy I was able to help them.

Love for the Unwanted

This is this program at my church that goes around to different group homes in the area and just loves and ministries to the children. I have been helping with this ministry for a while now, but I don't necessarily count it as volunteering even though that is what it is, I care about the time and the children to much to count it as anything more than loving on kids. I love getting the opportunity to go into these group homes and getting to do activities with teens my own age and helping them become a person. It is truly incredible to go back every couple of weeks and see how much each individual has changed and to see them start to let down the wall and open up to me. I love having conversations with these girls because they are just hurting and sometimes, just like us, need someone to just sit down and listen to their story. They are just like the little foster kids I watch on Sunday mornings, they just are better at hiding their pain. I feel honored and privileged that they would trust me so much to share their hearts with me.

- Samantha Stoffel

Goodyear Youth Commission

I have spent the last three years volunteering as a part of the Goodyear Youth Commission (GYC). It has been a very fun and rewarding experience. As a part of the GYC I get the opportunity to volunteer at more places than an ordinary citizen. I've gotten to do everything such as collecting food, all the way to volunteering as a victim in CERT. I also have the amazing opportunity to learn about city government and help shape the City of Goodyear's future. The skills I'm learning along my volunteering will be valuable tools for me to use for the future. I'm currently signed up with them for my second term and look forward to the next half of it after summer break!

Water is Life

I took the time to help out the club Water is Life at Odyssey to sell tickets for Cow Pie Bingo. To sell the tickets I dressed up as a cow and ran around the school to sell tickets. From this experience I learned, that one I love cows way too much and my skills to communicate to others of why I am selling tickets in a cow costume. I also learned when I am more enthusiastic and happy there are more people willing to buy the tickets. I learned that the community is more willing to purchase a ticket when there is a possibility to win a prize. From this experience I can use the communication skills to then apply when say presenting to a class to clearly express my points.

By: Aly Poole

zach did something 5/22/15 taught first graders a little mandarin

I taught some first graders a little mandarin on friday. They were very interested in what I was teaching them. For example I taught them how to Say goodbye hello, mom, and dad. They also asked me a couple of questioned of how to say different words that I wasn't expecting but it was a very cool experience to have. The teacher later told me that they wanted to see me again so that was a little bonus that I got from volunteering there.

A Long Day with Kids

A few weeks ago I was approached with the opportunity to volunteer to watch some kids through my youth group. I knew I had to work all that day but it didn't seem like people were willing to help, so I took the job. The kids were registered to be there from my church because their parents were going to be at our church's "Giving Banquet" to raise the last bit of funds we needed to build our church building. The final day arrived and I went to work as usual. I work at a yogurt shop so I was busy running around until 5'oclock   when my shift ended. I went home where I had one hour until the kids arrived. I asked my mom if the twenty or so kids that did sign up to come to our house so they could play outside and on our trampoline, and since our church's banquet was at the Raven it would be easy for their parents to drop them off on the way. It was a really long night, especially since one of the toddlers kept crying fro his mom. When the banquet ended a few of the parents tried to pay me and a few others for watching their kids. We denied the money although it was tempting for me because I needed to raise more money to raise for my senior trip. We kept saying things like "we advertised this as free" or "you just gave a whole bunch of money to the church its fine" it was true we said those things, but I especially felt good because I knew those families didn't have a lot to begin with and we helped them out a bit, I think that's a part of service.

By Ashlynd Zamora

Helping move dog food for C.J dog food donations.

           For one of my volunteer opportunity I got to help C.J, who is an older lady and the dog food donator for many of the animal rescues throughout Arizona. I helped her twice this semester. Once for only 3 hours and the other time for 6 hours, moving 25-50 pounds dog and cat food bags out of storage units to different storage units or in the back trucks and trailers. In this experience I will admit, after 6 hours I was tired.  I learned that I’m able to over come the feeling of being tired to help out an older lady move very heavy bags that she would not be able to do on her own. I learned that although you don’t gain anything it is a great feeling to know you are helping out many other people. I can apply this experience to other parts of my life because there is always ways to make peoples days and help them out. And in the end it can be the best feeling.

Helping Out My Grandma

My grandma has always been a person who gives service to others. She has allowed many of her children to live in her home along with many of their friends in need. Over the years her house has been occupied by too many different count. She is very selfless in letting so many different people live in her space and use her resources. I wouldn't recommend living this way and I probably wouldn't but I still see her as an example of service. In the last couple years she was diagnosed with terminal cancer and decided that in her last few years she would do what she wanted to do and live how she wanted to live. I respect that and think she deserves it.
She moved out and is selling her house. He new home is exactly what she needs for her. I recently went over there to help her pick the fruit off of her trees and clean up her yard. She is a great example of hard work and service and this was a small thing I could do to give back to her.

Cheer Camp

On September 19 the cheer team did a Cheer camp for kids, the girls who attended varied aged from 5-12.
Depending on how we got along with kids we divided ourself into two groups. Some took the little kids including me because we have more patience and work well with kids and the other half took the junior high girls. Both groups had to learn a stunts, a cheer, and a dance. After a couple of hours we had the parents come in and watch the girls perform. 
This is a really big role to take in, especially since you have to be a leader and a role model as well.
It took a lot of patience for me, especially when the ages varied from 5-10 in my group.

I loved how we (the cheer team) where able to take a huge leadership role and were able to work as a team to be a role model to young girls who want to have fun and be like us some day. I loved being able to show our potential as a team and that hopefully we can be an inspiration to them.

By: Soleil Mendez

A volunteer’s perspective of candles falling from the sky

Last month, in November, I had the opportunity to get many volunteer hours in, enough to satisfy requirements for the semester. It was a welcome opportunity, and it came with a cost that would prove greater than I expected, but also with great benefit. My task was to be a general assistant for a live production involving huge numbers of people. Specifically, I had the request to help a leader who was well into pregnancy as she managed her assigned children.

In line with requirements, I received no payment and I was not working for an organization upon which my family was in any way financially dependent. I would be present from 6:00 AM to 10:30 PM. As it proved, the requirements of our location meant that I was unable to have any shade during the time I was there, and I did not have a chair, thus placing me under a large degree of physical strain.

I would move a chair about for the leader and assist with the movement of a wagon and several buckets, and so on. Under the circumstances, an extra pair of hands was extremely important as everyone worked throughout the day to get everything ready for the night’s performance. I was badly burned by the sun and was quite exhausted, and I had lost an entire day to work on any school assignments, but the help I was able to provide left me very satisfied, and it was nice to know I helped as everyone gave their performance for the world.

I was not a party to the absurd (and quite accidental) barrage of lights against spectators that occurred afterward, but I can say that I have seen fiery projectiles fall on a crowd with my own two eyes now, and that would be an experience in and of itself.

Hard to starboard, set course for the future!

Having had the opportunity to assist others as they worked to complete a grand project that was near and dear to them, I have the opportunity to consider what my own projects might be as I approach the upcoming semester.

It is my aim to have a project with a direct impact on my immediate community. In a very narrow sense, my immediate neighborhood, I can begin to contemplate possible improvements or services that could be rendered.

It seems from my observations that the small park located not far from my home is very underutilized. I rarely see anyone playing there, and it has suffered from some of the damage that occurs over time. I intend to look into options that I could take to make it a more useful and appreciated area.

By: Duncan Robinson

SHOC Racing

Annually, my family an I travel to Yuma, Az to participate in the SHOC Racing golf tournament. This tournament raises money for the my uncle Oscar and his crew members to race in the Baja 1000 in Mexico. When we do arrive to the golf course in Yuma we already have designated jobs. This year I helped with sign in, passing their goodie bags and shirts/hats out and I was at the Caddy Shack hole with trivia and selling raffle tickets. During this experience I learned that I have the ability to sell all of the raffle tickets to the participating golfers. Also I learned that the Yuma community is very supportive of SHOC Racing; the owner of the golf coarse lets my uncle use their space for free for an entire day and also participates in the tournament. Communication is very important in this event which meant I had to talk with other adults in making sure there wasn't to much chaos. Using the communication skills I have learned with this experience I be more prepared when it comes to working with others in events.

By: Aly Poole

Summer/Winter Games

Although I did not mark this on my sheet this is my experience in helping with the games. This experience is getting to work with kids starting at the age 4 and adult 40 and older. I have to communicate with everyone. Usually when we arrive at ASU Prep we prepare the rings where the competitors compete. During this experience I learned I could communicate with others who don't speak English with hand gestures and the little Spanish I knew. I learned that that the Karate community is opened to everyone. There were competitors that traveled from Mexico, New York and all around Arizona that came to compete. Using the communications skills I have learned by taking part in these events is how to reason with others when they do not get what they want.

By: Aly Poole