I volunteer at a site called College Gardens, it is a YMCA affiliated after school program for kids in grades K-12 that live in Baltimore City.
I volunteer alongside others and for our reflection session, I had the group of volunteers read an article on the difference between helping and serving and write a response on how it relates to what we do at College Gardens and here is a quote from one of the responses:
"At College Gardens we do not volunteer to help kids, because they are not broken, we volunteer in order to get to know the kids."- Jonah Kracke-Bock
This quote to me was just a reminder that at our service site we don't do things to help "a lost cause" or those "lesser" than us, we serve to form relationships that can transforms lives, those of the kids and of ourselves.
For this Apple/Social Change Effort working with the kids from RICA I think it is important for us to remember that the kids aren't defined by one aspect of there lives. We are not "fixing" anyone rather supplying an opportunity for growth in both ourselves and the students.
#foodforthought #servicelearning #civicengagement #whatareyourthoughts?
-Kathy
No comments:
Post a Comment