Volunteering

            This semester, for my volunteering hours, I chose to spend my five hours at a local government housing facility in Bristol, cleaning/cooking for, and simply spending time with the older generation who resides there. My five hours has been spread over the past two weekends and I hope that I will find the time to continue my work there, and not let this be the end of my volunteering there.

            Over the last two weekends, I have swept, mopped, and dusted the apartments of both an elderly man and elderly woman living within this governmental apartment complex. I have also helped to prepare and serve their dinner to them. More importantly than both of the actions stated above, I have been able to talk to them, or more accurately listen to them, and learn more about their lives and where they came from. I would sit on the couch and they would sit in their recliners and they would describe to me the world that their eyes saw as they were growing up.

            The elder man spoke of his many sibling, 8 to be exact, and how they would run around town as small children and get into all kinds of mischief. He also tells me of the hardships that he has endured, and how he got all of those rough calluses covering his hands. He talked to me about his roofing business and the friendships that opened up to him. He told me about meeting his wife for the first time, and trying to capture her attention by making her jealous. He told me how they ran away from home when he was 21 and she was 15, and got married. He laughed as he described the first dinner that she had ever made for them, remembering how badly she scorched the beans and burned the cornbread, and how he ate every single bite anyway, 2 servings of each to be exact. He talked about watching his kids grow and have children of their own, and how he didn’t feel old enough to be a grand-father with the oldest getting ready to turn 27. His laugh was infectious and his stories were captivating. Just listening to him you could almost taste the blueberry bread pudding that his mom used to make when he was little.

            The woman that I was able to sit with and talk to told me about her brothers growing up and how they had always picked on her. She remembers them tugging on her braided pigtails and trying to steal her glasses. She tells me of the picnics that her “momma” and “pop” used to take her on. She says if she tries really hard she can still smell magnolia trees and feel the warm sun on her skin. She remembers her whole family coming together for Christmas and how excited her and her brothers were when they received oranges and bananas in their stockings. She tells me about her husband and how when they were still “courting” he talked of joining the army. She was only 16 at the time and she feared that if he enlisted, she would not be able to see him anymore. She voiced her fears, he agreed, and they too eloped in the middle of the night when everyone else was sleeping. They made it back before daybreak and kept their marriage a secret for 3 weeks before finally telling her mother. She says that she had such a good life, and she misses those she has lost, but now at the sprite young age of 94, she would not give back a single day.

            I am so glad that this is the place I chose to spend my volunteering time. Both of those discussed above said that they do not receive many visitors and family phone calls are few and far between. I could tell that just by listening, I had given them something that they had so been longing for. I have learned so much from them, even in this short time. I have learned the importance of hard work and never feeling you are too good to do anything. I have learned what love looks like and how important it is to stand up for what you believe in. More than anything, I have learned the importance of listening; truly listening, not just enough to respond.

            Volunteering is meant to help people, and I learned that even the simple act of showing someone that you care and that what they have to say matters, is one way of helping them.

            “Helping one person may not change the world, but it could change the world for one person.”  - Anonymous