Community Service Essay, Research Paper

Andrea Oldham

Community Service

Up to this date I haven’t participated in much community service, but once I get settled in a new home with my degree in environmental sciences, I plan to volunteer for a non-profit environmental organization, and this will be my job or career. Other then this I have done community service a few other times in my lifetime. I will tell about a few of those experiences. The first form of community service I did was bringing food to the needy. My mother, sister, brother in-law and myself decided that one warm Arizona Christmas day we would all go out and deliver a big Christmas meal to the needy. I admit it was kind of scary going into these neighborhoods and meeting these people, but it really made them happy to be getting a meal on Christmas day, it gave them something to look forward to, and it made them smile. Most of these people lived alone, and a lot of them were older folks in trailer parks. We would stand around and talk to each one for a few minutes then be on our way to the next house. It felt really good to make their day!

The next form of community service I did was with my old church group, all of the children in the group got together and went to visit the elderly in the nursing home one day. These older folks were so grateful that us children were coming to visit them. A lot of these elderly people were very lonely, and they didn’t have many people who would come to visit them, they really loved our company. There was one lady I remember who wanted to adopt me as her grand daughter, but it seemed like the moment I walked away she completely forgot who I was. Their were some people in the nursing home who would just roam about singing or moaning, and others that would go down to the club room to play games with others. Some of them actually scared me, there was one guy who was lying in his bed just screaming, but all in all older people are just like little kids, and sometimes they are so cute!