My Hopelink Experience
Although my summer was already packed with activities, and every day I had the option to do something I personally wanted to do, I felt that I needed to do something for others, and to help them have a better summer as well. Myself and two of my good friends, Kasra and Nikita, decided that we should try and volunteer somewhere in order to fulfill this aspiration of ours. We felt that it was important for us, and young people in general, to volunteer and help our community; our current generation is in essence one of the luckiest ones on earth, and offering even just a few hours a week to help others is a minuscule commitment that everyone of us can fulfill.
After some time spent looking for opportunities we were able to connect with Hopelink, and through the help of Barbara Whitehurst we were able to arrange times where we could go volunteer. Our first volunteering experience was perhaps the most memorable, and it involved us helping to pack a countless amount of supplies from an old facility, so that they could be transported to a new one.
Throughout our day we went from packing up toys, to moving boxes, and finally loading supplies on a truck. In this process, not only did we feel that we were directly helping someone, but also learnt many valuable skills that are applicable to many other aspects of our life. For example, we learnt how to correctly load bundles of crates weighing more than 500 pounds onto a truck (a task that we were able to master by the end of the day). We were also able to exercise many leadership qualities; we found that through competence and hard work you would quickly become someone who other volunteers looked to as a point of reference, even if it was your first day. That was exactly the case for Kasra, Nikita and I, during the morning we showed competence and determination in our work, and by the afternoon others would be asking us for instructions. This was exhilarating, because unlike in many other places, at Hopelink we felt as if our help was actually, and directly useful, we could feel that our work had actually mattered. At the end of our day, although very tired, we felt that our efforts had been helpful; we felt that someone had personally benefited from what we had done. This feeling was what motivated us to continue volunteering throughout the summer, and although by no means did we have the time to do it on a regular basis, we went as many times as we could, and after every day of volunteering we felt like we had done something worthwhile. Through this experience, we learned that volunteering not only helps others, but also helps oneself; by dedicating some of our time to this cause, Nikita, Kasra and I felt like our summer not only had been fun, but had also been worthwhile. By Niccolo Piacintini
