Each time I teach WRIT 1133 as a service-learning course, I like to invite you, the students, to reflect on your previous experiences with both volunteering and the issue we’re focusing on in this section—homelessness. To enhance your experience and the writing community that we’re beginning to form, I think we owe it to each other to understand our perspectives on both these issues.
So let me lead by example. All my life, I’ve been engaged in some sort of volunteer activity, some sort of community engagement. (It all started with the Cub Scouts in the second grade …) Looking back on these experiences, I see that they laid a foundation for the values I cherish as an adult. It’s very clear to me that I find meaning in sacrificing for others, in cultivating humane communities that bring out the best in all of us, and in working, even in small ways, to make the world a better and more just place.
But as much as I believe in the importance of this work, I also recognize that perhaps even more important (and more selfish) is the meaning that such works brings into my life. Serving others and engaging in a number of different communities over the years has expanded my worldview and allowed me to confront issues I might never have seen had I remained isolated in my own individual life. And as much as I value this life, I’m fairly sure it’s not enough. Certainly not enough if I want the work I do to enhance our world and improve it (or at least leave it less damaged) for the next generation.
Before class on Monday, I’d like you to consider some of these questions and post a comment in response to them: What are your experiences with volunteerism, service-learning, civic engagement or other related kinds of activities? What draws you to this kind of work? What does it mean to you? More specifically, what experiences have you had working with people who are homeless or who are living in poverty? What questions do you have about these issues? What do you hope to gain from our course?
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Volunteering is something that I have engaged in since I was an eighth grader, my first time being with my church on a mission trip to inner city Chicago. From there, I became involved with different organizations that dealt with battling cancer, volunteering for the American Cancer Society, our local cancer treatment center and at the hospital. Since my mother’s diagnosis with cancer when I was young, I have felt a strong desire to help out with the battle against cancer. Trying to help others through something I has had a huge impact on my life is extremely important to me. Dealing with cancer is not only tough for the person who is sick but it can take a huge toll on their family. Raising money for research and dealing one on one with people who were sick was a way for me to reach out and help those in need.
ReplyDeleteThere are only several occasions when I have dealt with those who are living in poverty, my trip to Chicago being one of them along with a trip two years ago to La Chimba, Ecuador. The trip to Ecuador was to help rebuild a hotel in order for the community to earn revenue through travelers. I traveled with a large group from my high school and stayed with a single mother and her two children. It was humbling to see how they lived, without heat or a refrigerator and a shower that consisted of freezing water coming from a pipe in the wall. I was lucky however to be able to sleep in a bed provided by the family because I heard later that some of my classmates stayed in chicken coops on stacked blankets and hay. Although I experienced that poverty in another country, I can’t deny that there is poverty like that in the United States. I have been blessed in my life and have not had to deal with living like that but I would like to know how others came into those unfortunate statuses. Along with the question of how it happened, I hope to learn what I can do as an individual to further help those that live in poverty or who are homeless.
-Avery Denney
My life has been surrounded by community service since I started school. I'm a Roman Catholic Christian and have gone to a Catholic school my entire life (minus the second half of second grade due to a family move, but that's another story for another time). With this comes the expected requirement of community service. In grade school I was required to participate in at least 30 hours per year of community service and in high school, 20 hours per year.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up with this kind of requirement as a kid of course made it seem like a chore rather than something I enjoyed. However, through doing community service, I found I did enjoy it to some extent. Now, it wasn't the most enjoyable activity of my day, but I found some enjoyment in it and a good feeling of accomplishment after a day's work.
I mainly participated in homeless shelters and things such as soup kitchens (the events where a homeless shelter will provide food for anyone willing to come). I loved working with the people there and it's great to see how happy they are with what they have and how thankful they are for someone like me to come and socialize with/assist them. Now, of course there are the few that come, make you give them the food, and then leave, but for the most part I had a good connection with the homeless on projects such as the ones I attended.
When I heard from Professor Bateman that this class was going to be focused around the homeless, I believed (and still do) the topic of this class may be quite interesting. So far I'm enjoying the book we are reading (still haven't gotten to those few last pages); hopefully I can gain a little more knowledge of the homeless, at least from Project Homeless Connect, in this course.
My first experience with community service was in lower school, where the classes would participate in food drives and run/walks. I can not say this was really any volunteer work on my behalf, as it was just what the class was doing. When I started going to catholic school I started to a lot more community service outside of the classroom. There was a weekly rotation to volunteer at the soup kitchen and every semester the entire school would take one day to volunteer throughout the city. Again, my volunteerism was the product of just going with the group. I did always try to go to the soup kitchen as often as possible, initially because it was during class time. But, the more I went, the more I became fascinated with the problem of homelessness.
ReplyDeleteIn middle school, to satisfy my community service requirements I did not work with the homeless. Instead, I volunteered where my first big crush was working, an after school program at the YMCA. My instructors were very impressed with my altruism, doing about three times as many hours as what was required, but little did they know of my ulterior motive.
In high school, my community service became more environmentally focused as I attended a boarding school in a more rural environment. There, I worked on a project where we built a biodiesel generator to convert the dining hall's waste vegetable oil into biodiesel, to donate to local, organic farms. Apart from the generator, I also maintained/built trails and planted trees in fire damaged areas. Working for the environment was my favorite and most rewarding volunteer experience yet.
I liked the environmental work more I suppose, not only because of the pleasantness of working outdoors, but because I felt I was more effective out there. The problem of homelessness rests in the hands of government. But the government and organizations established to fight homelessness are so mismanaged that I feel all my efforts are in vain. Until I have the skills to do the paper pushing that is necessary to relieve homelessness, I choose to do work with tangible results.
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ReplyDeleteVolunteering is not a big part of my school life. I was busy all the time, helping my parents with their restaurant business, so I don’t have much time to volunteer or do some community services. Even thought, I don’t have much time to volunteer, but I played football. In our school’s football team, we have to do community services and do some volunteer works. In the summer, our team has to help in the school environment, like clean the windows, pick up trash, and do some gardening. That are the community services works I did. For volunteer work, we, as a team went the local elementary to help them with their field day and other thing is we gave a speech about how important school is for a student athlete.
ReplyDeleteThe reason for why I did the things I did, for volunteer works, was because that was a very good time to get out of school for few hours and that was fun to help the little kids. The reason for community services, because it was required to do the works in our football team, I don’t have much of choice of whether to do it or not.
To be honest, I don’t have any experiences with the homeless or poverty. If I really need to think of it, it would be that my family was in the same situation before (poverty), but not in a very bad situation. I don’t have any questions in my mind right now about this issue. And I hope to learn about homeless from our class.
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ReplyDeleteWhere my father works is a state-run company that is partly responsible for flood monitoring and restoration. For this reason, my dad sometimes needs to work with other departments to help people suffering and displaced from flood, which is often seen in south eastern China during the rain season. This is also where my first volunteering experience came from.
ReplyDeleteWe used to organize a number of fundraising and donations in the neighborhood and I was helping in collecting items, taking records and sorting them into categories. I was really glad about what I was doing as I could almost see how people would feel when they received these items. It’s also pleasant experience working with people who are caring and generous. From time to time I would be surprised at how a person I thought somewhat stingy turned out to be a kind-heart one. These people teach me to be grateful about my own condition and be considerate for the less fortunate. Though I didn’t go to the flood stricken area, I was proud of my work.
During high school I participated in a school program aimed at helping students from poor families with study. Since those students have to spare a big amount of time working to support family, they don’t usually have enough time for study. What we do is to make a summary of what we learnt, so when they can’t make it to school on a certain day, they can pick it up quickly by reading the notes and summaries thus won't fall far behind. Sometimes we offer tutoring after school so that they can get the point of the class better.
I really enjoy working with people either in need or ready to offer help. From the latter I learn what we are supposed to do to make the world better and put that into practice with the former. Homelessness has been a big social problem in my country. The terrifying earthquake in China in 2008 has put a considerable number of people in homelessness and the whole society is still working intensely to help them out. I registered for this class not only because I feel interested to know more about the issue but also feel obliged to.
My experience with volunteerism, service-learning, civic engagement began when I was 5 years old in kindergarten. The school that I went to believed strongly in exposing the students not only to academics but also giving back to the community and world. There were smaller service projects when we were in lower school and then when we reached middle school we got to choose volunteer activities that we enjoyed. There were weekly trips down to Denver to the Grant Ave Street Reach Soup Kitchen which I personally loved to participate in. That was really the first time that I first saw how hard peoples lives were living on the streets. Even though the people there were homeless I loved talking to them and hearing their stories. They always had great stories and I always loved how I felt after a long day of work there. Also every Martin Luther King Jr. Day we went to school instead of having a day off of school. During this day at school we got to choose the volunteer opportunity for that day. The range was quite large for the types of volunteer jobs so, I had many different volunteer opportunities in high school. Projects like: World Vision, trail building, cooking for EMTs, recycling center, working clothing drives, habitat for humanity and many more.
ReplyDeleteMy experience before I came to DU influenced how I feel about volunteer today. I really enjoyed the time that spent helping others and so now I have carried that into my future. Another experiences with homelessness (besides the soup kitchen) is when I was living in Guatemala for a summer. I would walk to school everyday in Guatemala and was constantly approached by people selling things to make enough money to feed themselves. Mostly parents had sent their children out to make the money. I saw the homeless from a different point of view then I had seen them in the soup kitchen. Overall I don’t have much experience with homelessness because I come from a more privileged part of the country. I did help out with Project Homeless Connect last year but I really wonder how much we can really help someone make a step in their life. What other ways are there to help people undue their homelessness?
When it comes to volunteering, I have never really stayed with one program. Throughout high school I was in clubs that had to volunteer to stay in it. Volunteering with these clubs, they had different activities every weekend for different programs. I have never stuck to one program. One of the main things I did for volunteering hours was cleaning up beaches. Another place I volunteered at was for Rose Parade floats. For a few weeks before the parade they would have hours to go help build them. This was the most interesting thing to do, yet very tedious. One place I had to volunteer was for band and colorguard in high school. Being in colorguard, I had to do everything that was required especially since my mom was one o the main parents. Every year the school hosts a tournament which goes from 6am until 11pm and had to be there the whole time. We had to get there early and stay after to clean up also. During the tournament there were many different places to volunteer. In the four years I volunteered in many different places including food and hospitality.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy helping other people, but I have never really been interested in doing this type of stuff before. When I did do it I had a lot of fun and would have done it more, but I never had the time. I have never worked with the homeless or people who suffer from poverty. I don’t have any questions about this issue, but I hope to learn a lot more about this huge problem in society.
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ReplyDeleteMy family has always been the kind that would do anything to help out other individuals. Whether it’d be to let travelers crash at their house, or help a random stranger on the street fix a flat tire. Growing up in such an environment, I feel as though I have come to realize that if this global community were able to help one another more often, we’d live in a much better world. Since that became my philosophy, I began to do volunteer work at a very early age, and then became much more involved by the time I got to high school. In my sophomore year, I joined a group called Interact, which does a lot of community service projects all over the world. It really caught my attention because I was able to make a difference and at the same time, I got to travel, which is one of my greatest passions in life.
ReplyDeleteThrough my time doing community service, I’ve gained a lot of wonderful experiences and tools that have made me grow as a person. I’ve also acquired a greater sense of respect for the communities in which I live in, while meeting people that I wouldn’t meet on a regular basis. It has really opened my eyes as to what other people have to go through in their daily lives, which at times though very shocking, has been an important thing to come to terms with.
When I lived in Mexico, I got to see a lot more of poverty and homelessness first hand than I have here in the United States. My mother used to be a music group that would perform for homeless children. She did that most weekends, so a vast majority of my childhood was spent with kids that didn’t even have a place to sleep. Through that I began to realize the hardship that some people in this world have to go through.
What I’m most excited about through this course is that I’ll be able to get more involved in volunteering in this community. I’m also looking forward to gaining a broader sense to what’s going on in our world, and perhaps help people get the assistance that they need to find their way out of their poverty.
Ideals surrounding social justice have been ingrained in me since I could remember. My mother plays a large role in the community organizing scene in Chicago, and obviously she has inspired interest from me as well. Though for me, homelessness is not the stress, generally I focus more on poverty and the dehumanizing and almost inescapable cycle it presents.
ReplyDeleteI have been working with my mother and my church for a long time. The work with my mom has most often been creating programs to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. We would host projects and bring youth from the richest and the poorest schools in Chicago. These kids would then be expected to work alongside each other without creating any hierarchy or practicing condescension, as the typical 'community service' work generally does. In my interview I said that long fingernails is a petpeeve of mine. I realize now that that term is probably a much bigger annoyance to me.
It was quite easy for me and the other youth in my church, for example, to go into a soup kitchen and feel real good about ourselves. One would cook for and hour or two and smile real big when the costumers came to eat our hard earned fill. But after doing this for a good year or so regularly, I realized that the people we were serving were not coming from a lower place than us, simply a different place. And I realized that the act of serving them food was as much a privilege to me as getting a meal was to them. It was this realization that brought me closest to my current understanding of the issue, but I know that that understanding is much less than I would like it to be.
I would like, therefore, to broaden that understanding more in this course. I would like to know more about homelessness and poverty from a historical, economical, and personal level. I don't know how in depth we will get into the economics of it, but that I hope to find perhaps in a different class. Here it would be nice to put these issues into context and really challenge ourselves as to where we fit into the vicious cycle. My mom told me about an essay she was reading in which the author said that in the system, there are the oppressors and the oppressed. Bystanders are nonexistent, or rather, they are oppressors. Now I don't want to believe it, and I don't know if I actually do or not, but I think it would be very wise to evaluate which each of us are. And though this is obviously generalistic and we all have our situations, being at DU probably puts most of us on the side of the oppressor. I would like to figure out, in this class perhaps, how to create a third party- the resistance.
Volunteering was never a big part of my life until I came to DU. Although my highschool had a day every year for community service projects, the projects never entailed much. I was always extremely busy with sports and my academics. However, when I began school here, it was an eye opener to see how many students and faculty volunteered on a regular basis and were very passionate about this work. I've always been willing to help out the community and people around, but I never actually had the opportunity or the interest to do so until the Project Homeless Connect last spring. Immediately, after meeting my client and hearing her story, I was drawn to the project and wanted to learn more about homelessness. This single day of volunteering unexpectedly had a great impact on my life and views of homelessness as well as the ability for a group of people to make such an impact on others' lives. It was great to get this new perspective and even without this class, I would have volunteered for the program again. I am very interested in seeing how I feel about the program after my second year, as well as hearing of everyone else's experiences.
ReplyDeleteAs a student who went to catholic schools all my life I was constantly encouraged to be involved in community service activities. As a part of my environmental science class we volunteered to plant cottonwood trees near the Rio Grande to help promote environmental growth. Also, on monthly basis I would travel with a teacher and a few students to the local homeless shelter. We would serve food to the homeless for a couple of hours. As I got to high school the community service became required and the hours were increased. During my time in high school I helped teach Spanish Youth RCIA classes to the younger Latinos at my Church parish on a weekly basis. On a yearly basis I helped with a program called "Thanksgiving food Baskets." During that program I assisted with distributing Thanksgiving food to those less fortunate in the communities surrounding me. Another thing I would do on a yearly basis is I would also help with the freshman orientation at my high school on occasion. During my college career I have helped with project homeless connect, and a park clean up in the city of Denver as well as doing junior achievement at a high school. My experience with community service has taught me a lot about teamwork and how valuable life is. A lot of the people you meet whether a volunteer or less fortunate has something to bring to the table. They are not just there to be ignored. They are there to contribute as well as to learn from.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to the times I have worked with homeless people. I have worked with homeless people on the occasions that are listed above. At first when I worked with homeless people I sort of figured I would see the common stereotype of the person with torn up clothes and really dirty. When I started working I realized that these are people that are just like anyone else. A few even had jobs but could not afford a home. A few people were veterans that were forgotten about when they had finished serving for their country. As I helped these people and saw the smile on their faces it started becoming a very fulfilling experience for me because at that point I was not just helping these people but I was also helping myself. I realized I was helping a cause that was greater than myself. Homelessness is an important issue of today. We have to help support these people or find a solution for it.
I think volunteering to help those less fortunate is very important and can be very self rewarding. One of my best memories is when I went on a Mission Trip to Tiajuana, Mexico. We stayed at an orphanage and helped out in a poverty stricken community. For two days we helped build a house for a family who's dad had to work tow jobs just too get food for his family. This was very rewarding for me because I worked very hard on something that wasn't for me. It felt very good to help those people who would have given anything to have just some of the possessions that American's take for granted. The next two days we played with the kids that were at the orphanage. These children had no parents or there parents put them in the orphanage because they couldn't afford to take care of them. These kids had no home and still they were grateful to have us there to play with and to have someone to talk to. My trip to Mexico taught me a lot. I realized that I am very fortunate and I don't take what I have for granted anymore.
ReplyDeleteAnother experience I had was going to serve lunch at one of the homeless shelters in downtown Denver. It was a good experience because all of the people were so grateful to have us take time to come serve them lunch. It was a really good experience.
While in the high school, I volunteered at the local library three times a week. What I did there was to help the lower graded students’ with their homework on math and science, along with managing the books. My family atmosphere is to help people without getting personal benefits, which is a good moral trait. Since I came to the DU, I had an opportunity to contribute my energy to Denver Marathon last year. I got up early in the freezing rainy morning, and my goal was to set up the stations for runners and prepare the energy drinks for them. I learned the importance of perseverance, confidents; also I was deeply influenced by the great passions from the Denver Marathon. Last year, I joined the PHC6, and I registered for the food supply station. Hunger is really a big issue for homeless people, how should we do in order to decrease the number of people who are suffering the starving? Some clients wanted to have more than one sandwiches, unfortunately that was not allowed for them. My heart had been shook by seeing these people, there are a lot of things I should do but I just cannot help them all. However, I am doing what I can do in a right way, because I believe that even just little small things that may change something.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I've never been much for volunteering. I've done it once or twice before, including working at a homeless shelter for Thanksgiving one year. But it just wasn't a big part of my life. My family never really had that much money, so volunteering kinda wasn't within our scope of priorities. Aside from that, I never really made time to volunteer - I always had homework, work, school, theatre, skating, or chores.
ReplyDeleteI do believe in the importance of volunteering, of reaching out to the community to lend a helping hand to a neighbor. From my limited experience I feel I can catch a glimpse of how fantastic the feeling is to help someone less fortunate. But speaking as a person who was homeless for a short while, I also believe that much of the problem of homelessness can be dealt with in two ways: radical government change, in terms of civic priorities of funds, removal of the bureaucratic red-tape in the housing and job markets, and overall attention to the needs of the individual, as well as the homeless people themselves actually wanting to change and looking for a way to a better life.
I know that the majority of people sleeping in the streets would rather have a bed, in a home. But how many of those people are willing to do what needs to be done to achieve that? I don't hand out change to beggars because I know I pay taxes that supply the government with money to support local programs aimed at getting people off the street. I also know that much of the money these people receive is used to buy alcohol and drugs: I've seen it. I'd rather lend a shoulder to someone trying to walk than carry someone who's just too lazy to try.
I'm taking this course as a way to help people who want to be helped. This is not to make me feel better, or to satisfy some urge to fill a hole in my heart dug out by guilt of leading a fortunate life. I've worked hard to get to where I am, and I'll help others with their workload, but I won't do it for them. Feed a man a fish vs. teach a man to fish, etc.
-Patrick
I have been volunteering with many different causes but have always wanted a chance to work with the homeless and never have. I guess I should start with what I have done. In short, i've been a teaching assistant, helped tutor kids in hebrew to prepare for their bar/bat mitzvah, worked with teenagers who have Autism as a student aid for them, volunteered with the elderly and and holocaust survivors, done some volunteer work related to the environment and helped out with some other various things that i'm sure i'm forgetting.
ReplyDeleteWhat draws me to this kind of work is that I have a passion for the world around me as well as people. I have a problem that I find myself often putting others before myself but its a problem that I love. I love that I have a drive within myself that speaks to me and makes me want to go out and learn from those who have lived and still are living.
What it means to me is that its an opportunity to learn from people and allow it to help me grow within myself. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t volunteer inorder to learn about myself, I volunteer because its something that I simply enjoy doing. But what it means to me and what I get out of it is what I hope to be a balance between both those who I'm helping as well as myself.
I haven’t had really any experiences with working with people who are homeless or in poverty. I also don’t really have any specific questions around the matter because its something I have always wanted to do and just never really have.