Communities: Giving Back

By Lauren
So far, in my internship as a camp counselor at Bryant Community Center everything has been going absolutely amazing, the kids are great and I hope they are enjoying themselves throughout the day because I know we are :). Recently Atiya and I are putting together a field trip for the kids to go to the Hands On Museum. I hope this trip will be highly educational for them as well as ensuring them a good time. I used to go to that Museum a ton when I was their age, it was my absolute favorite trip we would take in summer camp.


A couple days ago 826 came and had a routine session with us. One of our tasks was to come up with a short but informative paragraph on what we do during the days we're at our home base (Stone) as well as what we do at our sites (community center work). While we were writing, a lot of questions arose, such as "do you think what we do is important/why do you think our volunteering is important?" I most definitely believe that being a volunteer camp counselor at any community center is important because it gives us an inside look at our community as well as other communities we don't see often. In my community (Bryant) there are tons and tons of kids with less advantages than I. It saddens me to see them struggle but when they enter the center its as if none of that matters anymore, whether its from creating a mask or playing capture the flag they always have a smile on their face and for me its an honor and a privilege to have something to do with that. Not only are we helping the kids in the community, we are setting good examples for the future generations. I know for me volunteering always seemed like a chore, something that could never be interesting or to become a benefit to me; this experience has completely changed my perspective on volunteering. Hopefully this chance to be a part of communities will be around for a long while because I believe everyone should have this opportunity to give back and in a nutshell see what the other half lives like.