Serve until you can't serve no more
I absolutely love to serve. Whenever I am serving is when I feel my best. I do not have a favorite service moment, but I have had a couple of service experiences that have more impactful than other experiences. While I particularly have not had any times where I have felt alive, there certainly have been moments where I have felt content or just enjoyed the service I was doing
A recent experience was I went on a day trip on October 29th with VT Engage to Roanoke Valley to serve with Habitat for Humanity. I was very much looking forward to this trip because I really wanted to help work on a home. I had no expectations going into this trip other than I will probably be doing some manual labor and that I’ll probably get sunburnt; but I was ok with either of those situations happening. I was very eager to work on a house, no matter the job, and there is always aloe (which I own a lot of) if you get a sunburn. After we got there, we all introduced ourselves and then the site manager put us to work. We started out plain and simple, picking up garbage around the house. Shockingly, I was having fun. I was not thrilled with picking up garbage, but I was with some great people and we made it fun. After we finished getting all the garbage up, we were put on yard work duty. This began with a couple of us (including me) raking the dirt to soften it up so we could later lay down grass seed and hay. While we raked the dirt, some of the other team members and the couple that was going to live in the house worked on spreading out the dirt around the house. All the while, we were all having a fun, sweaty time, doing yard work together. After the dirt was raked and then spread out around the house, we began to do some actual landscaping. I was very excited to do the landscaping because that meant that I got to use the grass seed spreader. You probably think I am crazy, but that thing was very fun to use, and watching those seeds shoot out all over was crazy. The only problem was that the handle was too low and my back started to hurt. While I worked on seeding the dirt, some other people worked on mulching the front of the house and putting plants down. We also planted a few little trees in the backyard. The very last thing we did was put hay all over the yard. Let me tell you, this was by far the most fun I have ever had at a service site. We all took handfuls of hay and danced around the yard like wild people. There was a purpose too this insanity. The hay is supposed to keep the grass seed in place until it germinates and establishes its root system. I did not know that until I googled it. I was just having fun throwing hay all around the yard. After we had finished with the hay and cleaned up all the tools, I walked around the house one last time to see what all we had accomplished in one afternoon. I found it so amazing how much work us and the family got done in such a short amount of time, and having a blast while doing the work. After learning about how complex service really is throughout this semester, I found reflecting on this experience to be difficult. I did not want to talk about surface level actions, but rather delve into the things we did helping this family and Habitat for Humanity. However, I enjoyed getting to write and reflect about how much fun I had doing yardwork and landscaping, two things I would not typically find fun to do. I am excited to get more involved with Habitat for Humanity so I can start having more fun doing yardwork.
A recent experience was I went on a day trip on October 29th with VT Engage to Roanoke Valley to serve with Habitat for Humanity. I was very much looking forward to this trip because I really wanted to help work on a home. I had no expectations going into this trip other than I will probably be doing some manual labor and that I’ll probably get sunburnt; but I was ok with either of those situations happening. I was very eager to work on a house, no matter the job, and there is always aloe (which I own a lot of) if you get a sunburn. After we got there, we all introduced ourselves and then the site manager put us to work. We started out plain and simple, picking up garbage around the house. Shockingly, I was having fun. I was not thrilled with picking up garbage, but I was with some great people and we made it fun. After we finished getting all the garbage up, we were put on yard work duty. This began with a couple of us (including me) raking the dirt to soften it up so we could later lay down grass seed and hay. While we raked the dirt, some of the other team members and the couple that was going to live in the house worked on spreading out the dirt around the house. All the while, we were all having a fun, sweaty time, doing yard work together. After the dirt was raked and then spread out around the house, we began to do some actual landscaping. I was very excited to do the landscaping because that meant that I got to use the grass seed spreader. You probably think I am crazy, but that thing was very fun to use, and watching those seeds shoot out all over was crazy. The only problem was that the handle was too low and my back started to hurt. While I worked on seeding the dirt, some other people worked on mulching the front of the house and putting plants down. We also planted a few little trees in the backyard. The very last thing we did was put hay all over the yard. Let me tell you, this was by far the most fun I have ever had at a service site. We all took handfuls of hay and danced around the yard like wild people. There was a purpose too this insanity. The hay is supposed to keep the grass seed in place until it germinates and establishes its root system. I did not know that until I googled it. I was just having fun throwing hay all around the yard. After we had finished with the hay and cleaned up all the tools, I walked around the house one last time to see what all we had accomplished in one afternoon. I found it so amazing how much work us and the family got done in such a short amount of time, and having a blast while doing the work. After learning about how complex service really is throughout this semester, I found reflecting on this experience to be difficult. I did not want to talk about surface level actions, but rather delve into the things we did helping this family and Habitat for Humanity. However, I enjoyed getting to write and reflect about how much fun I had doing yardwork and landscaping, two things I would not typically find fun to do. I am excited to get more involved with Habitat for Humanity so I can start having more fun doing yardwork.