IA Service Event
Saturday, November 16th, YWCA Family Center
Along with a group of about ten other volunteers, I helped to decorate the homeless family center organized and run by the Young Women’s Christian Organization of Columbus. Once there, I worked with the team to organize trees, tinsel, and an amalgamation of every department store Christmas decoration display of the past ten years. Even though the event only lasted about four hours, we were able to learn an incredible amount about both the reality of families who find themselves without a home as well as the people dedicated to providing them with the services they need to survive on a day-to-day basis. The sentiment is quite trite, but a college campus is one of the most sheltered areas to the reality that a college attempts to educate their students about, and through the Pay it Forward trips I’ve been able to help out on, I’ve realized the importance of leaving my good intentions and notes in my dorm and directly assisting the lives who weren’t given the same opportunities I was to attend college. Some argue that a lot of volunteering rarely stimulates significant change, and that’s true to a degree, but what I learned on this trip is that the only evidence I need that makes even the smallest change meaningful was the smiles of many of the smaller children at the shelter at the sight of Santa and an improvised winter wonderland. Regarding the international relevancy of this trip, I believe the easiest way to move towards fixing a universal issue such as poverty and economic inequality is to find ways to help those suffering from the problem at the local level, and through this service, I am encouraged to continue purposeful action towards addressing this issue, and convincing others that what they do, truly matters.