This week, a couple co-ops volunteered at the Girl Scouts Spring Break Day Camp at a local church. The day camp featured various fun, educational activities throughout the week. I had intended to volunteer on Tuesday afternoon, but I was unable to do so due to last-minute travel plans for work. I was pretty disappointed that I was unable to help out with this event. I participated in Girl Scouts when I was younger, so I was looking forward to working with young girls and helping them learn.
This evening, a group of co-ops volunteered at Birchaven Retirement Home. We helped the residents plant flower and tomato seeds in small pots. We also brought sugar cookies with green icing to share with the residents and to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
Prior to organizing this event, I was a little hesitant to reach out to Birchaven. I have never volunteered at a retirement home before, and most of my community service time is usually spent working with children. However, after I reached out to the volunteer coordinator (Ruthann), she responded with such enthusiasm and had so many fun ideas for the event. After talking to Ruthann, I was really motivated to encourage co-ops to sign up to help out. I was so pleased with the number of co-ops who signed up for the event. Several co-ops who haven''t attended many social or volunteer events yet were very interested in helping out at Birchaven. When I think of community service, I primarily think of volunteering at community events for young children or volunteering at a soup kitchen. However, organizing this event made me reflect on my idea of community service and made me realize that there are so many ways to help out others in the community. Spending time and talking with the residents at Birchaven was very meaningful to both the residents and the co-ops who participated. For the past several weeks, I have been working with Monica, the team leader of the Marathon Relay for Life team. Although the co-op semester will be end before the actual Relay for Life event (in June), I reached out to Monica to help with fundraising events. Working with Monica has been an awesome experience. She is so enthusiastic and eager for the co-ops to be involved in this great effort.
After brainstorming potential fundraiser ideas, we decided to organize a St. Patrick's Day lunch potluck for the co-ops. Every co-op who signed up was responsible for bringing one item (food dish, utensils, plates, etc.) and a $5 donation. We booked a conference room for the day and everyone who signed up came by during lunch time for the potluck. We had a great turnout of about 18 co-ops and we were able to raise $100! Monica and I were so pleased with the results! Everyone who participated had a great time, and we were able to raise money for a noteworthy cause. My favorite part of this event was sharing dishes with each other. One of the co-ops is from Louisiana so he brought in home-made crawfish/shrimp etouffee. It was evident that he was excited to share this part of his culture with us, and I'm so glad I got to experience it. Tonight I attended a Dueling Pianos Fundraiser event with seven other Marathon co-ops. The proceeds of the event benefited the Findlay Area Swim Team. We all really enjoyed the event and had a lot of fun spending time together outside of work. As the tickets were somewhat pricey, I was really pleased that I was able to organize a group of co-ops to attend this event. Most of the other people at the event seemed to be parents of children on the swim team. I thought it was really cool that my peers, who didn't know anyone at the fundraiser and don't know any kids on the swim team, were willing to support the event.
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Reflective BlogCheck out my thoughts and reflections about my semester serving as Marathon's ICAB Living Our Values Director. |