What is community service? How does community service impact others? Why is it important to unite together as one?
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” Community service can be defined in a variety of ways, but, overall, the main meaning behind it is "volunteering your time and energy to help individuals in certain areas without seeking for anything in return." As a college sophomore, I have come to witness the beauty of helping others by giving my time and attention to help those in need. For many of you, volunteering your time and attention to help others is a no-brainer. Other individuals struggle to understand the purpose behind lending a hand to help someone in need. There are those individuals who view community service as a burden and refuse to lend and there are those who jump with excitement at the thought of helping others. Community service is not a hindrance, it is an amazing opportunity to grow as an individual.
My personal experiences with community service taught me a great deal about myself as well as my community. Sacrificing time and energy to help other individuals achieve a certain goal is one of the greatest feelings that a person can ever experience. Communities that have individuals unite together to help volunteer and assist others are truly amazing individuals. Giving back to others can be as simple as collecting food or clothing for a local food bank or homeless shelter. As a society, we need to be more open-minded and to push individuals to not shy away from giving back to their local communities. We must set an example and give back to the community in any way that we can. By volunteering your time and energy to your community, you are not only bettering yourself as an individual, you are making your community a better place through your actions. I had the privilege of volunteering at my high school on many occasions by getting involved with anything from canned food drives to helping customers at our local school plant sale.
It is so easy to give back to your community, all that you have to do is try. Take a leap of faith and be a leader by setting an example for your peers to follow. Giving back to help promote the well-being of a community is utterly amazing. Be that one individual who wants to make a difference in their community by leading a community clean-up day! Pick up garbage around your local schools. Donate books to children. Gather up some friends and collect jackets for a homeless shelter. Giving back to your community can be as simple as volunteering your time to read to elementary students. Help give back to others! Community service is not a punishment nor should it be used as a way to glorify yourself. If you are going to volunteer your time, do it because you want to help others. Do not do it in the efforts of trying to appease others or because you feel that it makes you look good. Volunteer to help others because you believe that it is the right thing to do. Personally, I love helping others in any way that I can and if there is anything that I can do to help an individual, you'd best believe that I will give it my all. "A life filled with service is a life worth living."
