Updated Service Learning Plan

My initial learning plan was kind different than everyone else’s. My plans have also changed quite a bit since the first post. In my first post, my goals were:

1) Obtain a sense of accomplishment from this service experience.
2) Become closer with the people in the honors class.
3) Learn something from this experience to take into the future.
4) Accomplishing a sense of understanding about people from different walks of life.

I would say from my experience so far, I am working on all of these tasks. I am won’t fully gain the sense of accomplishment until I have completed the course but I am working on it. It is so rewarding to help with the open closet. There are approximately two hundred people that can come through on a given Saturday. I will have to admit that some of these people probably take advantage of the open closet and do not really need to get their clothing from there, but there are many people that come through that truly need the open closet. I have really taken to the children that come through on Saturdays. When one walks through the door I am determined to find them something that fits, and something they like before they walk out the door. A little girl came in last Saturday morning wearing flip flops, a skirt, and an oversized sweatshirt and it was extremely cold outside. We went through a whole industrial laundry cart to find her something. I also went through the children’s room to find her some clothes. When I handed her a dress and her face lit up, it made me feel great. Even something as small as giving her an article of clothing made that girl happy. I am guilty of taking the everyday necessities for granted, and I am sure many others are as well. I feel bad for wanting stuff now, and I am thankful for what I have been given. I know that when this service experience wraps up I am going to be grateful for the experience I have received. It will probably be something that I will never forget.

I think our class is becoming closer. There are only about a fourth of us left from the original class, so I think that helps. Class seems more laid back and we laugh a lot more than we did when we were first years.

One thing that I have learned already from this learning experience is that I want to continue volunteering for the less fortunate for as long as I can. It is so rewarding to put a smile on someone’s face, and also to provide someone with something that they cannot provide for themselves. I know I will learn more from this experience that I can take with me into the future.

I am receiving a sense of understanding about people from different walks of life. People come through that do not have jobs, are homeless, are disabled, etc. Now I have never been any of these things so I am learning a little bit about what it is like for them. Some people are sick and cannot afford the necessary medical help they need so they suffer from it. Is constricts their movements and stuff they should be able to do on their own.

One thing I would like to add to my learning plan is adding something to the open closet. To me, it does not seem like they are really in a church. People come in, get the clothing they need, we treat them with a friendly smile and a helping hand, and that’s it. There is little to no ministering that goes on on these Saturdays and I would like to see more of that. It could be something as small as handing out a flyer for the upcoming church events and inviting them to come, or more of a personal discussion with the people that come through. Since there are a lot of people that come through on a given Saturday, this would be very hard. I think the flyer would be more realistic.

Another thing I would like to add to the lesson plan would be something independent of the open closet. I will not be able to complete all of my service hours with just the open closet, and I want to help out with more than just that. We talked about getting stuff set up with the soup kitchen but the communication is lacking there and I do not know if we are going to be able to get much done with that. Terri, who is the head of the open closet, has talked about getting supplies for Christmas baskets to hand out to the elderly people in the community. This would be the first time that this would be done through them. They are looking to do about twelve, but would do more if they had the resources. Clarke is helping them out with some donations so after they figure out what they are getting, Terri said she would let me know what they still needed and I said we might be able to get some stuff as well. Small ideas keep popping up and they are very feasible. I just hope to make a difference in the community down there, even if it is in a small way.

I think St. John’s would like to connect to the neighborhood with the soup kitchen. They have been trying to get this set up for a long time. I think if we could get the other churches to help out, they could connect to each other that way. I think it would be nice if the churches got together and provided some sort of Christian entertainment for the neighborhood. I do not think there is enough Christian activity with the open closet and it would be nice to make an improvement there as well. I know the church would like to increase the number of people that come to the services each week and this could be a way to do that.

Our class could help tie the churches together. We can each talk to our respective churches and get them to come together on some sort of activity or event for the community. This might be the soup kitchen or some new event.