Giving Back: Vision Boards

If you think your life is hard, there is probably someone out there who has it worse. Looking back on my life and growing up, I definitely had my struggles but I know that my life has been easy in comparison to others. I do have to say one of the toughest parts of my life was going through my teenage wears. Not only do you go through bodily changes they can help you blend in or make you stand out, you struggle with identity, wanting to test boundaries, making and losing friends. I couldn't image dealing with all that and not living in a consistent home or experiencing abuse or trauma. I think that's one of the reasons why I volunteered at the Heartfelt event at the Maryvale, residential facilely for girls ages 6-17, was because I was blessed to grow up in a sheltered and loving environment and not everyone else was. What was nice about this event is that we got to pass out items that the girls needed such as school supplies while helping them with a project that allowed them to dream and connect with themselves and one another. We created vision boards that the girls could put on the front cover of their notebooks,acting as a constant reminder through out the year of their goals and dreams. The visions boards were a great project not only because of their purpose but it allowed the volunteers to connect with the girls, a middle ground of conversation . We helped them look for certain pictures and stickers to put on their boards and by doing so learned about their interests, their passions, hopes, and dreams. After the vision boards the girls and the volunteers had lunch together while listening to live music. During this time two very impactful things happened to me. One, the volunteers were flooded with thank yous from the girls. The girls were so grateful for our presence. They appreciated someone being there and treating them well. And isn't that what we all want, to be treated well and loved. The second thing that happened was I ran into a girl sitting by herself. She was upset over a confrontation she had earlier and found a quiet stop to be by herself. I sat down next to her and listened to her vent. I admired her for finding her space to calm down, and although I couldn't solve her problem she was grateful to have someone listen to listen to her, simply listen. If you read all this I challenge you to do at least one of two things. One give someone your time. Whether it is someone you know or a stranger spending time with someone can make a difference in their life. Second, take the time to simply listen to someone. If you know someone is frustrated or going through a hard time reach out to them and simply tell them you are hear to listen. You never know what kind of seed your kindness will plant, and how much that seed will go.

Giving Back....

The first two Saturdays of January I was very happy to be able to do some volunteer work with Planned Parenthood and Reading to Kids.

1. Planned Parenthood

I vounteered with Plan Parenthood's outreach program. I thought I would be going door to door, knocking on doors and trying to talk to people about Planned Parenthood. As nerve racking as this can be there was actually a more simplier method of outreach, however it still took me door to door.
The meeting area Saturday morning was the Santa Monica Library. It was very confusing finding the room that we were suppose to meet in, but luckily I was able to call the person in charge for information, and with a little more information from the librain my friend and I were able to find our way to the room full of volunteers.
PP was gracious enough to provide breakfast and after chowing down we started our introduction.
I was very pleased to see that the day was planned out to the tee, and we were given plenty of advice to take on our volunteer journey. Our task was pick a nieghbor on the maps we were given and go door to door putting door handling with the information about Parenthood's new clinic in Santa Monica. A very simple task, minus avoiding the houses with dogs guarding them. But PP taught us how to deal with those.
When we went out on our journey, we got a little lost, mostly because I'm not every good at reading maps, but we finally made it. Our goal, as mentioned in the introduction was about 100 flyers per volunteer.
I must say it was fun taking a tour down the streets of Santa Monica and enjoying all the unique houses. Definitely a simple and effect way to communicate.

2. Reading to Kids
Reading to kids takes place at several different elementary schools in the Los Angeles county. The school I volunteered at was Los Angeles Elementary school. As a first time volunteer I sat through a very welcoming introduction and was paired with a partner. Each pair a volunteers was given a book, the same book for each grade level, with the task of reading the book out loud to the children. After we were done reading the book the children would do a craft based on the story that was just read to them.
When we finally started, my partner and I had a very small group of four children. Eager but shy the children

listened attentively and were slow to answer the questions we asked about the story. After we finished the book the children started their craft. It was great seeing the children's creativity through the crafts. My favorite part of the experience was giving the children their very own book to take home. It warmed my heart to see one of the children trying to walk and read their book as we finished up the volunteer session.


For more on the organizations or to volunteer with them visit
www.plannedparenthood.org
www.readingtokids.org