Volunteer Experience

Volunteer Experience

 

From past experiences, I have learned that volunteer work is extremely rewarding, and had helped me to gain a better understanding of the world around me. Volunteering my time has forced me break out of my comfort zone, the small community of LMU where I have spent the last four years of my life. The areas surrounding LMU are completely different than campus life and the students/friends I surround myself with. LMU campus life is not as diverse as the rest of Los Angeles.

My volunteer work at the community gardens in Westchester, has allowed me to gain a sense of empowerment, responsibility, and commitment within my community. By communicating and networking, I hope to meet some great leaders in my community and enhance my cognitive and problem solving skills. Volunteering in my community has made me a better communicator, and forced me to manage my time in order to be able to volunteer.  Managing my time and staying organized, has helped keep me balanced in school, work, and volunteering at a non-profit. After volunteering 50 hours of my time at Mildred Cursh in Venice California, I realized I had gained a greater educational and learning experience that my peers did not have.

During my training, I had to learn and memorize the children’s names, their diverse family backgrounds, and tutor them in elementary math, reading, writing, and science. Working with the children on their homework was rewarding to me because those kids are the future. By informing and teaching these children important skills now, I hope my efforts will one day land them a successful job. I was shocked to find that most of the children I mentored have parents who are struggling to get by because the current economy has destroyed their businesses and livelihood. I felt a sense of empathy for the families I had met that day because I could feel the pain and hear the struggle in their voice, as they were telling me their life story. It made me want to do more in my community and to help other underprivileged families. My efforts in Westchester and the surrounding LMU community, helped to change my community in a positive way.

Through my past volunteer work, I now have a deeper individual and collaborative reflection on how to create a positive societal transformation. I felt that my volunteer efforts were helping to make a difference in the future of these children’s lives. Volunteering in my community has now influenced my daily decision making towards a more moral and ethical stand point. I tolerate others with compassion because of the patience I had to have when dealing with many small children. I hope that by volunteering my time, I have made a difference in my community and have become a role model for others to follow.

 

~Cristina Mollis