One thing that I have learnt

I came to United Stats when I was in High school. And the town where I stayed is called Schaumburg where is around 40 minutes away from downtown Chicago by driving. The one thing that I learned the most was about volunteering.

    I did not have much experience in volunteering before I came to the U.S. I remember the first experience that I had was at Christmas. My host family took me with them to a local church and packed food and daily vitamins for children who came from the third world. This program is called Feed My Starving Children. All kinds of people such as teachers, pastors, students, and even strangers just came in and worked together to help to pack. At that night, I felt real warmth deep down. First was because I have never done volunteering before, so I was really excited. Second, the most important part, I have never thought that I can do something which would change other’s life. That night, I remember that we packed over 45 boxes, and could feed 12 children for a month. I was so proud of myself when I saw the result posted on the screen. This is something that I have never done, but I will keep doing this. Before this, I always thought that volunteering was about to collect money. But now, I understand that being the part of our society, we have to be in part of it, and give the strength to someone we need to help with.

Moreover, during Christmas, my school often went to a nearby mall to perform for free. Christmas is the time for family reunions, and once, while we were performing ‘I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,’ an older lady was watching us intensely. When we sang the lyric ‘The life the angels singing, open up your heart and hear them,’ her tears suddenly flowed. I thought we’d maybe done something wrong, but after the performance, she thanked us and explained this was the song she used to sing to her son at Christmas, but now he was a soldier deployed in the Middle East. She explained that our voices moved her and drove away from the loneliness. And that moved me, too. Deep down, I felt warmness and satisfaction that I could not easily express in words.

Why is volunteering important? According to the article “Motivations and Benefits of Student Volunteering: Comparing Regular, Occasional, and NonVolunteers in Five Countries,” the authors points out that “There are multiple benefits from volunteering (Hall et al., 2009; Musick & Wilson, 2008). Astin and Sax’s (1998) U.S. research found that volunteering can enhance students’ academic development, personal skills development, and sense of civic responsibility.” Like what I already experienced, we influence others; at the same time, we also learn from others. And finally, we all can become outstanding citizens and try the best to make our global village in a better place. 

Citied work

Cnaan, R. A., Smith, K. A., Holmes, K., Haski-Leventhal, D., Handy, F., & Brudney, J. L. (2010). Motivations and Benefits of Student Volunteering: Comparing Regular, Occasional, and Non-Volunteers in Five Countries. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/ spp_papers/153