The final call.

And as the semester ends this week so does our required volunteer time. I have learned so much from those 30 hrs that I would have never imagined. Time management is nothing to mess around with, especially when there are deadlines to be met, things to be done, and grades to be kept up. It has taught me more about myself and what my strengths and weaknesses are as a human. I have been keeping a mental list as to what I need to work on and hopefully I will add and take away from that list as my life goes on. I also learned how much of a difference you can make by just giving an hour or two or three each week, my coordinator told me every visit how much she appreciated my service.
With this semester ending, I will NOT be ending my volunteer service at the shelter, the coordinator has asked for my return in the fall and I more than willingly said I would be back to make a difference again next semester for sure.

Another quote...

"I was taught that the world had a lot of problems; that I could struggle and change them; that intellectual and material gifts brought the privilege and responsibility of sharing with others less fortunate; and that service is the rent each of us pays for living, the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time or after you have reached your personal goals."
    Marian Wright Edelman


I found this to be very intriguing. I am very lucky and thankful for the life I live day to day and sometimes we all need to take a step back and realize just how blessed we are to be here and even alive. There are many people out there that need our help and I believe it is our job as the more fortunate ones to help them and show that we are all still humans and no matter our differences we need to  come together for a common cause ever once in awhile. Putting our differences aside is not easy because we were all made to be different, but when it comes to helping someone/something in need I believe we can all help. Life is short and nothing is garunteed so we all need to realize that we need to spend our time here on Earth in a good way and put our good hearts to work. 

Summer is near....

Summer is less than a week away and with that being said, I will be heading home. This summer is going to be pretty busy for me, with an internship and a job, but I have already decided that I will be finding a shelter or other animal organization to volunteer my time at. I really enjoy volunteering and working with animals so I believe that continuing this work back home will be very enjoyable and beneficial. I already had a few places in mind but I plan on exploring the internet a little more and finding some different places that may need my time more than others. I like helping the little organizations that have very few volunteers and resources because you can really see the impact you are making and really become part of a team or family type group. You can really get to know some really amazing people and help them create and build their dream and watching their life change because of a few hours you put in once a week is awesome. With the idea of sticking with an animal based program, summer is definitely a busy season for them. With spring comes kitten and puppy season and with that comes a higher demand for help. For example, I stopped by the shelter the other day and walking in, I see one of the cages has a momma and 5 kittens sleeping soundly. I ask their story and sure enough someone said they didn't want to take care of the kittens so they brought them to us. This frustrates me so much that I don't even have words. Anyway, we have taken the "feline family" in and taking care of them until we can get them put up for adoption and into a loving family.

What others have said...

"Everyone can be great because anyone can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't even have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve... You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love..."
    Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr


I found this quote and it really got me thinking. What MLK says here is all quite true, we didn't have to be in ENGL108 or even here at Purdue to serve and volunteer. I have volunteered back at home before and even the first semester I did some volunteer work. I think there are a lot of people out there that believe that they have nothing to give the world because they have no talents or no special skills, this is not true on any level. Just as he says you just have to have a will and want to change something you believe needs changed or improved. Somedays it may take a lot of self motivation to get up early, or to turn off the TV, but once you start volunteering and making a difference you will show yourself just what kind of impact you can have. Everyone can volunteer and make a change, you don't have to have a talent, be a celebrity or have a lot of money, you just have to have heart. The people you serve don't look at you any different if you can't juggle or whistle, you are there to help them and that is what truly matters. And even better, the animals I work with don't care how bad your day was, what you got on your calc test, what your friend said to you, what car you drive, or even what clothes you wear, they just are crazy happy that you took time to visit and play with them. Sometimes I think when we put everything in life to the side and just all come together as one we can make the biggest difference and really change the world. So volunteer because you want to, not because someone says you have to to be a good person. Find your passion. 


Make a difference. 

Now that I have almost completed all of my hours I figured I would take some time to reflect and talk a little about what Ive learned/experienced. I believe that all of had something in the last few months that has completely changed the way we think/do/see things in life and I believe that is exactly what volunteering is all about, that being said I have learned to become a lot more patient, it wasn't a huge weakness before but improvement is never a bad thing. Working with dogs that still quite young and have little to no human interaction, let alone training is always in interesting and sometimes entertaining experience. It is definitely something that will test your patience and may even question your mental strength to stick to your goal(mine was to get these to simply acknowledge my existence and follow simple commands). It wasn't easy a lot of the time, especially on a Friday evening after an extremely long week. All I wanted to do was play with them but that is quite difficult when they don't know how to "fetch" let alone "sit" and "stay". So I started from the beginning, implementing some techniques I have learned through the years from my mentors and highly regarded experts. Positive reinforcement is my absolute favorite because the dogs easily catch on and they actually enjoy it. It easily gains their attention and isn't hard to keep them focused when they know praise, toys and treats are to come for doing something good/right. Its such a good feeling to start to teach  a dog "sit" and then come back a week later and see they're attention immediately go to you as soon as you touch your treat pocket and say their name, and it puts the biggest smile on your face when you say that magical word, "sit" and watch them hear it, comprehend it, and slowly but surely,  sink that butt into the ground..YAY! :) Such a small step, but when potential adopters come in and are looking for a new dog and see that one can sit on command it only makes that dog's  chances of a forever home even greater, and THAT is what really matters. forever home<3

College Town vs. West Lafayette/Lafayette

I figured I would take a little time to talk about one of the topics we discussed last week in class, pulling together this "college town" and the West Lafayette/Lafayette community. It is not hard to see the boundaries between the two areas and even more clearly seen is the cultural differences. "College town"-energetic, crowded, college kid friendly, anyone "outside" the normal age range is a visitor. Surrounding community-family friendly, bigger houses/homes, city/town like feel. These are just a few of the differences. Now, when volunteering many of us venture outside this "college town" and try to connect the two in a way that isn't obvious to the people around. Do we do it successfully? I think this is hard to measure. Does the surrounding area benefit from this college town being here, or would they be better off without us? What would they be if college town wasn't here? And one os the biggest questions should we try to integrate the two more than we are trying to now? Would it be beneficial or should we keep them separate for the sake of families and college kids? I like this last question. College town exists because one PURDUE and two because many of us come here to get away from home/parents/etc. Now, if we integrated the surrounding area and college town would this totally take away from this feel? And how would the area change? Can you imagine families and kids walking through the campus, campus activities and even chauncey square on a daily basis? Many things wouldn't be the same: restaurants, bars, stores, etc that cater to the college generation would have to change to deal with a mixed community of college and family. Lots of food for thought for this topic.

Thoughts.

I really enjoy intellectual thinking and breaking things in life down and coming up with all these crazy thoughts and ideas and I feel like this blog is a little outlet for all that. So this week my crazy thoughts have lead me to think about what WE actually receive by doing this volunteering. Yes, volunteering is giving back by giving your time, strength, patience, heart, head and sometimes money, but if you really think about it you are getting something in return. I believe that this is the beauty in volunteering. It gets you away from your everyday tasks and life and takes you to a place where you are trying to be a better person. By volunteering you also challenge yourself to be a better person which I believe is one of the greatest things. I love challenging myself and by stepping out and volunteering its a challenge to make a difference and make myself a better person. I look for ways everyday to make myself better and with this volunteering I have become more understanding, compassionate, and open minded. I feel myself using each of these abilities everyday when going through my day. I also believe in being the change you want to see in the world and by volunteering you are starting that journey and will hopefully continue it, especially when you find something you are incredibly passionate about. For me, this is the greatest feeling about volunteering, the passion I have to be the change I want to see, to feel like there is hope in humanity no matter how much bad and evil I see in the world. So my challenge to myself and to you: find your passion and be the change.