Habitat For Humanity:
The ReStore
For my community service hours, I volunteered at a non-profit organization know as “Habitat for Humanity.” The ReStore, was the method by which I assisted my community. The ReStore, is essentially a place in which people donate household items that they no longer need.
The ReStore sells the donated items to the regular public for bargain prices, and gives all proceeds towards creating new homes for those inn need. While I was there, I was to help in anything that needed to be done. As such, I helped in making a bookshelf from donated items, unloading and arranging truckloads of items that had been donated to the store, and putting together pamphlets to hand out to the public to gain support for the organization.
On the next day, I was to continue on with the putting together of the pamphlets, as well as putting together small wooden snowmen for another Habitat for Humanity project. The wooden snowmen had to be cut out, sanded, then painted. These snowmen are to used in a project with young children. The children will add on what they want to those snowmen as far as the design goes.
Civic Duty:
What It Is
“Every individual has a place to fill in the world and is important in some respect whether he chooses to be so or not.” (Nathaniel Hawthorne) This quote, is an important to remember in life, because it explains in a short sentence the role of an individual in the world or their community. Often times, the role of a person in a community is to preform some kind of civic duty at some point in their lives. A civic duty is defined as “The Responsibilities of a citizen.” This is a very broad term however, and could be misinterpreted.
Many people debate, whether a civic duty is optional or not. Some people are of the belief that because we are part of the community, we all need to be of equal help at some point in our lives. Others, have the belief that not everyone has time to give their service to the community, because they have much work and other activities to do. The people that have this belief, also think that forcing people to work for the community is also a loss of the liberties that come with being from the United States. “For every ounce of growth by government, the governed sacrifice an ounce of liberty.” It also depends on what the people consider to be responsibilities to them. Since people have different interpretations of what responsibilities apply to them, it is difficult to ask for help from many people without them feeling the sense that they do not need to do it.Civil service is considered to be important in the community, because it helps those in need without requiring much in return. An example of this is volunteers at a place that helps those in need. The people that assist to these places, are not paid for the service. This helps for the organizations to provide more help, but also to provide more opportunities for the people that are struggling.Ultimately, civic services are both wanted and disliked in several different communities. The government now offers incentives such as tax help, to get those who do not want to help, to help. Others do it simply because they feel it is necessary to do so because we are all part of our communities and should help the other members in it if they are in need.
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/civic+duty
Hawthorne , N. (2010, November 18th). Quotations about community. Retrieved from http://www.quotegarden.com/community.html
Citizen, Bargain. (2010). Is civic duty optional?. American Thinker.
My Experience:
The ReStore
After volunteering for ten hours at Habitat for Humanity, I have learned several things. One of which is that anyone else who does not want their things, can donate and help to make the life of a less fortunate one better. I also learned that people can help their communities with doing things that require little effort, such as purchasing cheap items. Another thing that I learned is that anything that is donated to the store, regardless of how useless it looks, can be used. In fact, from old pieces of wood and paint that were donated, the store was able to build a book shelf for the many books that have been donated to them. With old chairs, tables and computers, the ReStore is able to build office setups. When tiles and other building supplies are donated, those are put to use as well for different purposes.
My community service project helped the community because it helped many people that are in need of homes or shelter. The profits that this store makes, all go towards other branches of Habitat for Humanity, in which they help to create houses. My project, is also helpful to the overall public, because this store sells decent-looking used products, at bargain prices. People in the community, who do not want to spend a lot of money on something, may go to the ReStore to get it. While the person is doing this, they are also helping the rest of the community. Overall, volunteering at the ReStore was a new, yet satisfying experience. It is a way to help as a volunteer, and yet feel like you are part of something bigger. This something bigger, is giving people a home and allowing for them to spend the oncoming holidays in a warm house with their families. All of the staff members there are kind, and willing to help the community in any way they can. They are fun and yet are able to take their jobs seriously, and they manage to get things done on time for the next job or donation pick-up.
The ReStore, is a great place to volunteer. They will find ways of fitting people into the schedule, and will provide each person with equal amounts of work, because we can all help to better our community.
