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.

Deep Thoughts...

Haven't blogged in awhile so I will start off by saying that  I have managed to get a large number of cats put on Petfinder and adopted, which I absolutely love. I have also see many dogs come in and out of the shelter, which the latter part is the best. Now, one thing that has come to my attention when volunteering for an animal based group is how many options you have and how many opinions can be formed. When you are looking at a problem you may only see it one way, but in reality there are many different ways to look at the same problem and come up with solutions. This theory can be used in almost every scenario in everyday life. Humans are incredibly intelligent creatures and we are made to build our own opinions about everything in our lives and this is what separates us from each other. I have talked a lot about this idea with one of my great mentors and friends. When you step back and look at the problems in the world and the reasons we want to change the world and volunteer, the reasons are limitless. Each person has their own story and no matter how different your story is from theirs you both believe in volunteering. I think volunteering can bring everyone together in a way nothing else can. No matter your cause you put your time, effort and money into something you enjoy and love to do which is exactly what other volunteers do everyday. If any of you are like me volunteering gives you a sense of doing something greater than just living and being on this earth because you are making a difference and changing lives that would never be changed without your help, which is an amazing thing to think about.

This is a very thought based entry and it may seem a little scatter brained because I am just using it to get thoughts down as they come, so I am sorry for that.

After a few weeks of service there is a lot to talk about. One of the main things I do when volunteering is taking pictures of the cats and putting their profiles on Pet Finder. Since I have been doing this I am forwarded the emails from PetFinder that say how much a page is viewed and the results are amazing! It is an amazing feeling going in every week and seeing 10 new faces looking at me. Yes, it can be hard if you find one that you really connect with but, knowing that each one of those cats is now in a loving forever home makes me giddy inside. This week when I went to take pictures there were two girls looking and playing with some of the cats. They were there the whole time I was and one of them had her eye on a certain cat. I was done with all the cats except that one so I asked her if she wanted me to get her out for her and her face lit up. I unlocked the cage and got the little tortoise colored cat out. She held the cat and had the biggest smile on her face. She took some pictures and gave the cat some kisses. When she was getting ready to put the cat back I asked if she would like to name it because it needed a name and that is usually part of my job. She was so excited and in the end she chose Pepper. She was so grateful that I let her hold Pepper and name her and that is what puts a smile on my face. I not only made her happy I also gave Pepper the feeling of love, compassion and happiness, which is my mission. I headed to the shelter afterwards and it had been a tough day so I was extremely excited to go and get my mind off somethings. Walking down the aisle I saw many new faces but I also saw a few faces that had been there since my first day. I have made a connection with many of these and they know I am there to go have fun with them. Two of these dogs have connected with me very well and I am trying my best to leash train them and teach them some good behaviors so hopefully one day I will walk in and see "adopted" written on their cage sign. Trina and Kiara are the two girls that have been there since I have and they are the best girls I have worked with. Both of them are full of energy but eager to please. I let Trina off the leash in the yard and she will go explore but I say her name once and she is right back at my side. She is finally getting the concept of sit and stay down which is awesome. Now miss Kiara is a rocket. She absolutely LOVES to run. She would make a great running partner. At first she loved to chase what you threw and not bring it back, but she has slowly caught onto the fact that I have treats if she brings it back and drops it, which is a huge leap from where she started. O, and then there is Lizzy, or as I call her, Momma. She is one of the sweetest dogs I have ever met. I let her off the leash and she stays by my side, and if i bend down she is immediately in my lap wanting attention. These dogs melt my heart because they have been in the worst of worst situations yet still have the heart to love you no matter what you are going through. Amazing.

the beginning...

Well I have successfully neglected to start this blog, which isn't a good thing. Ive done 3 weeks and about 15 hours of volunteering already but Im not sure about this whole blogging thing. Through volunteering I came up with a lot of problems I want to solve before I grow old, but I know who I am and I know I will make a difference any many ways that I can not even dream of right now. I am the type of person who is very passionate about everything I do, and this volunteer opportunity is no exception. I am working with Crystal Creek Animal Shelter/North Central Indiana Spay and Neuter. I have always loved volunteering in places like these because the feeling of accomplishment is indescribable. In this short time I have been put totally in charge of getting all the cats available for adoption onto Petfinder, this has proved a little challenging and very time consuming, but I love it when I can take 5-10 cats off the site every two days because they found homes. I also am a very hands on person so I have also been working with each dog individually on basic training and doggy "etiquette", which sounds simple but a majority of these dogs have had slim to none training or even human interaction. I LOVE the challenge of taking a totally crazy hyper dog and working with it day by day and seeing the improvement I have made to this dogs life. What most people don't know is that dogs are built to please, so when they receive that treat and hear my tone of voice change to happiness it is rewarding to them. It is ultimately a win-win scenario because it makes both human and animal happy and hopefully it will help that animal find a forever home which is the goal everyday I walk in there. Working with animals also helps me get away from the everyday stresses of being here at Purdue which I love. It gives me happiness and a feeling of accomplishment when I know I have made a difference.