This was the first picture I was given of Cherie. She is 4 years old in this picture and still waiting for a family to call her own. At this time, Cherie had no language. They knew she was Deaf but did not attempt to teach her to sign. She did not even know her name. I brought Cherie home when she was 5 years old. She is now 10. She has taught me the importance of giving back and realizing you can make a difference. She has made the world of a difference in me. She has given me more than I can ever give to her. People tell me she is so lucky. Really? She is lucky to have been abandoned, lived in an orphanage for 5 years, not having a family of her own, not having any language? She is lucky? No, I am. My family is. We are the lucky ones. I love you Cherie!
This week on Wednesday, October 3rd is Community Day. I have always been so proud that our campus encourages our students, staff, and faculty to participate in this wonderful opportunity to give back. I am honored to be a part of this campus that finds this day so important that it cancels all classes so we can all participate. You may not realize now the scope of what you are doing and how people will be forever changed because of what you gave back to your community.
Everyday, I am grateful for what I have. Everyday I look at my two beautiful daughters and my heart breaks for their birth mothers and fathers for not having the same privileges that I have had. I cannot imagine desperately trying to find a family for my child because I am dying of a disease that no one should ever have to deal with. I cannot imagine birthing my child and leaving the hospital without her/him because I cannot afford to take care of them. I cannot imagine wondering how I will feed my child. I have been to their countries. I have seen the orphanages they were raised in. I promised that I would strive to make a difference in people’s lives. I promised that I would encourage others to give back. Thank you for taking the time on Wednesday to do something for someone or our community. Please remember to practice community day whenever you can. Even the littlest things make a difference. Bring a dish to an older neighbor, clean up your neighborhood, bring canned goods to the food shelters, help someone that needs it, or see what you can do by contacting people right here on campus to send you in the right direction. Contact Jay Newcomb at jnewcomb@css.edu or Lori Barnstorf at lbarnsto@css.edu.
Community means to pay it forward. It is well worth the time and energy; I promise. Enjoy tomorrow. Embrace what you are doing with your heart and soul. Giving back is one of the greatest things anyone can do.
Blog Assignment: What does community mean to you? How will you continue to give back to your community? Share with the class your thoughts and ideas. How can one person make a difference and create a ripple effect? Reflect on you experience working for Habitat. What has it taught you? How has it changed you? Find a video on community to share with the class and provide a link to it. When you respond to another student watch what they have provided and discuss what it mean to you, what it taught you, how you will apply it to your life.
Have a splendid week and take the time to really look around you. See how days like this truly do make a difference.
To me, community means everyone around you supports each other, gives back, and helps the group for their well-being. I will join clubs or organizations that volunteer regularly so that I can give back to my community. I will be there for people whether it be for homework help or personal needs. I know that being involved in a community creates a sense of togetherness and identity, so allowing others into our community, wherever it may be, is not only encouraged but necessary. With that being said, I will also do my best to allow others into my communities. This way, no one can be singled out or forgotten, everyone will be able to belong to something, and therefore we can make a difference. Once a person has been accepted, they are often more accepting of others, which results in a ripple effect of acceptance. This is what community is all about in my eyes, and this idea has changed me for the better.
ReplyDeleteThe following video explains how a teacher succeeds in building a learning community for her students:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MY9LiwQ5fE
This video has shown how a teacher has taken over the kids learning and that she was able to help the kids figure out what they are really good at. I think that it teaches me how one caring person can out many people while transforming them to become better in school as well as better at communicating. I will apply this to my life by trying to help everyone else find out what they are good at and to help others through the tough times they may be going through.
DeleteCommunity can be a sense of belonging, or maybe it’s just a place for the moment, but to me a community isn’t just the place you reside in. It’s a place where people come together from different backgrounds, work and live together, and make a place to call home. Community functions bring people together. Benefits, Run/Walks, and Volunteer groups are just a few of the many things a community can do together. At home, I volunteer for several run/walks to benefit different community hospitals and organizations. I will keep up my volunteer work even though I’m not home at the Great Lakes Aquarium, and other campus volunteering experiences, such as Community Day. It isn’t always easy to feel like one person can make a whole lot of difference, but they can via the ripple effect. Once one person has done some sort of volunteering, it makes it easier to get the word out and open up the opportunity to someone else. The more people that know about a certain activity or event, the more people will be able to step up and help out.
ReplyDeleteWhile working at the Habitat for Humanity site today, I learned that the things that need to be done might not always be the most fun or easiest things to do. For example, a group from the class was instructed to sweep and mop the floors of the warehouse area. Regardless of the amount of sweeping we had to do, we still made it fun. Now that the rooms are clean, the organization will be able to better serve the citizens who utilize the area.
The link to the video I posted below shows teens working at a SHINE work camp. I have taken part in theses trips, and find them to be incredibly worthwhile. Hundreds of teenagers gather from all over the United States to serve a community in need. Once at camp, everyone is split up into groups of people they don’t know, and told what they will be working on for the week. The volunteer work can be anything from working in a day care to painting to landscaping. It isn’t always easy work, and it’s a little strange to be sent off with people you’ve never met before, but by the end of the week, everyone gets along great. Even though the work can be tough, no one ever regrets the time they spent during their summer at camp. These trips can really help a community in need, and can bring people together from all walks of life.
http://www.shinecatholicworkcamp.com/scwcvideos/
Community to me means a group of people that live in the same area that have a focus to grow as one and to look out for each other. A community looks out for each other to help support each other. I will continue to give back to my community by volunteering in the community as well as joining clubs and making sure to help others at the College of Saint Scholastica. One person can indeed make big differences and create a ripple effect. One person can help communities by giving back their time to help others. There are many examples of this such as volunteering at nursing homes, food shelves, and other nonprofit organizations. By giving their time and effort, they are helping the communities evolve into a better place to live.
ReplyDeleteToday working with Habitat for Humanity, it really taught me how much hard work and effort is put into building the homes that they make for people. It was a lot of work and really makes you look back onto how easy we sometimes have it growing up. This may not apply to everyone, but I know that I sometimes had things relatively easy yet still had to work growing up. This is a completely different type of working because it is for others and not so much personal gain. It is mostly to help out others to make way through hard times in life.
I believe that it changed my perspective on how much work is going on out there to help others without people even realizing it and how many people give up so much volunteer time to help people out.
I believe that this is a very good video to show people what it means to give back to others. They help with finances, healthcare and many other things and it shows how meaningful it is to the people they are helping out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2M5r9gxFoc
To me, community means the environment that you live in. In a literal sense it is: all the people living in one particular place. With both definitions, I believe, come that people know to love, care about and support each other. I mean, would you want to live in a community with people that don’t love you back, don’t care for you in return and do not support you? I know I wouldn’t. Just because we have ‘our community’ and others have ‘their community’ that doesn’t mean that we should love, care for them and support them any less than what we would if they were in our own community. I thought Community Day was a great demonstration of my reasoning. It was also an extraordinary way to introduce us freshmen to giving back to the community. I know some of us did volunteer work before college and kudos to you! I, for one, didn’t have the opportunity to do so. So I thought it was a very fun, touching and an eye-opening experience helping The Habitat for Humanity on this beautiful Wednesday. I absolutely plan on participating in Community Day for the years to come. I had a blast while at the same time I enjoyed helping the community of Superior, Wisconsin. If someone sees us doing a good deed like we did today, I believe it would influence them to also participate in a good deed. Even if it’s just a couple people stopping and taking time to help another person pick up some papers that they have dropped or a whole restaurant of people that have a deep concern for the guy that came in alone and it now choking and needs help. Community Day has taught me that it doesn’t matter which community you volunteer at because we all have similar motives, for the most part; and, as I stated before, I believe those motives are to love, care and support everyone around you, even if you have never met them before. I think it adds to the experience when we are volunteering for people we do not know because it also helps us practice The Golden Rule, in a way that could be better than other methods. Being as I have never participated in volunteer work before, it has influenced me to be a part of the Community Day volunteers for the years to come.
ReplyDeleteIn this video, it shows Armand Young and his way of promoting acts of kindness by walking across America. He says, “Every step I take is for a soldier that can’t take a step. Every mile I walk is for the victims that lost their lives in 9/11.”
http://youtu.be/6HxwJkR0d3g
This video made me realize that everyone can do something to contribute to making this world a better place. This man has devoted his life to walking for the homeless, promoting environmentalism and random acts of kindness, and remembering those who sacrificed their lives in 9/11. We all advice from him and choose to make our lives the way we all want it to be. By doing random acts of kindness we can change the world for the better. It’s a genius idea because anyone can do it, you don’t need money, and all people need kindness in their lives. I will be sure to do random acts of kindness so that this world is a better one for all of us. I don’t see why anyone would choose otherwise.
DeleteCommunity means to me as people working toward bettering there home area and communicating like a family. In todays Community day, I felt great being able to help my new community of Duluth/Superior. I was glad to partake in this day and even gained experience. By going out and doing something to better your community and people see that you are doing something, others will want to join or start something with friends, family, or neighbors to do the same. Working with Habit taught me that giving back to your community isnt just beneficial for the community, but to yourself. Also I got to get involved with construction, which my Great grandfather worked in construction when he was still working. It changed me to care even more for the community, a lot more then I did before.
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/MxY08khO8tM
To me, community is a group of people in a certain area or home that live and work together together to make their environment a better place to be. I will continue to help our community by participating in various activities similar to the one we did today. People helping others can create a ripple effect by inspiring others to do the same. Working with habitat today has showed me how rewarding helping others is. It has changed me by inspiring me to participate in more volunteer work.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTzZIParIBs
I think that video represents community.
To me, community, in the literal sense, is where you live, but I think it is so much more than that. Community is where people come together and work for a better cause. It is where people support each other through anything and you can trust them to always be there for you. A strong community helps out one another. Helping each other is important because it creates a larger sense of community and it is just the right thing to do.
ReplyDeleteI hope to continue to volunteer in the future because it is a really satisfying feeling knowing that you helped out someone. Even if it is a small action, it can lead to bigger impacts. It is also really fun to get some of your friends together to volunteer. Some of my friends and I have regularily volunteered at local organizations in our hometown, and it is a really gratifying experience.
I have to be honest that I wasn't really excited to be volunteering at Habitat for Humanity on Commmunity day, but at the end of the day, I can genuinely say that I had a really good time. We worked on various projects, such as sweeping a thoroughly dusty floor and painting. It was hard work, but we all worked together and tried to make it more fun so it didn't seem as bad. Community day has taught me to appreciate what I have. I realized how quite fortunate for all the things that I have and I have learned to not take anything for granted. It also really opened my eyes to how important volunteers are to many of these organizations. Without all the hard working volunteers, many places could not run. That is why it is important to volunteer and give back to the community.
This video is about the power of "WE". It is not a specific story of a person helping the community, but it is still very effective in promoting a sense of community and how young people are essential for social change. Together, as a whole, we can help the community by donating our time and talents to people in need. This looks like it would be a really powerful event to attend and I think that it is important to celebrate how "WE" have/can change the world.
http://youtu.be/7jTqzWpXITM
To me, community is a group of people who live in the same area and who have the same morals as one another. I come from a small town where hunting, fishing, drinking and typical 'hick' activities are acceptable. The values of how you treat your family and friends is also strongly promoted as well. The Iron Range is a string of small towns who are rivals but are also one big happy family. My video isn't necessarily about community. It's a song. But this song is the reality of my small town. More and more young individuals are growing up and "rebelling" because they can and leave their childhood roots behind. "I can keep you pretty busy with a hammer and a nail. It ain't a glamorous life but it'll keep ya out'a jail. Not worry us all day" kind of hits hard because society today is based around making a "big" life for yourself. "It ain't no shame in a blue-collar 40. Little house, little kids, little small town story". I feel like this sense of community has been lost, even since when I was younger. More and more people are "going big or going home" with their lives and losing relationships, morals and money in the process. Working at Habitat today taught me to be thankful for the hours and hours and hours of labor put into making a house strong and stable house for a family to build a life in. I grew up volunteering so it is more of a normal for me. I love volunteering. It makes me feel good about myself.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx-dUsh6OT8
Community to me means the interactions between one and another in a specific setting.in a community people give to eachother and help eachother out. What i am going to do to help my community is continue to volunteer at local sports events. Today volunteering with habitat shows me helping another family out makes me feel really good inside! I really enjoyed getting to do something i have never done before, buliding houses.
ReplyDeleteCommunity, this is a word that I have learned to become more and more fimiliar with while here at the College of St. Scholastica. Community can have a million different meanings to everyone, but to me it means to come together as a group and put aside differences and find a common ground with one another. I see it as also meaning working together or people who inhabit a certain area. Our dignitas class came together as a community on the 3rd and we helped make it possible for a family to have a home to call their own. Helping out with community day definately opened something up in me that effected me in a sense that made me want to do more.. help more in the community that I am living in. That I guess is the ripple effect that happened from the 3rd. The experience from working with habitat for humanity gave me lots of insight and motivation.. It moved me and like I said it had opened something in me that made me want to do more. It was a really good experience and I also feel like our class drew closer together during this experience as well.
ReplyDeletethis is my video I found on community.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D93A-9OWOCk&feature=pyv
Mariah,
DeleteThe video you chose showed community in such a great light- no pun intended. In a time of need, communities can come together to accomplish almost anything. The video portrayed just that. The people who offered up their time and light did so without complaint to help the lighthouse tender. Without their help, there may have been devastation aboard the ship. I can apply the ideas presented in the clip by helping out where I can, and when people need it without complaining, or making a big deal about it.
Mitch,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your video. It really shows how the word community means something different to every different person. Yes, the general idea is the same, but the specific definition is different. To one person in the video, the perfect community is knowing everyone in her neighborhood. To another, the perfect community has a movie theater right across the street and a coffee shop down the street. Asking random people what the word community means really shows individuality in each and every person.
Growing up I was abused severely and I've learned what community is by looking at my aunt and uncle. They took me in when I was at a low point in my life. They have helped shaped me into the young man I am today. With there help I've learned to spread my knowledge of what I have been through, I was a mentor for a little boy, from my hometown that reminded me a lot of me as a child. He went through many of the same things i wen through. Now, this little boy, when I see him has a smile on his face. He taught me to make the best out of everyday.
ReplyDeleteIf everyone did this the world would almost be perfect. Helping other in their times of needs, is a huge part of what community means to me. Respect also plays into the equation again, these two things can make a terrible place, into a "utopia"of some sorts, we always hear about that one person that does a huge difference in a place that needs direction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufQpgYSDRdU
Kris,
DeleteYour comment caught my attention and touched my heart. I completely agree that the world would be a better place if almost perfect if we all contributed with the community and others from around the world did the same. Being there for someone is not just a nice thing, it can save a life.
Paul,
ReplyDeleteYour explanation of the video is exactly what I think too. It showed me some barriers preventing people from helping the community, and I never really paid much attention to it before, but now that he mentioned all of the factors, I have noticed that he is correct on all levels. It really means a lot to me because he showed that you don't have to do major things in the world, to make a difference in someone's life. Even showing someone that you care about them can significantly improve their day. I will try to apply it to my own life by stepping out my comfort zone and be someone's hero, because everyone needs someone that they can rely on. Again, the little things can add up and make a huge difference.
Emily,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on your view of community how itt means being surrounded by a group of people with similar backgrounds and share some of the same interests. To me this description sounds like a small town, in my small town I grew up in everybody knew who everybody was, and if they didn't know you personally they knew your cousins or other family.
Austin,
ReplyDeleteI really like the word togetherness,I agree that it completely has to do with community. Yes our habitat group got along reallly well and i hope to work with the same group throughout the year!
To me, community means everyone coming together to create a better team when completing a set task. It also means that others need to be able to respect the rest of the 'team' to fulfill their potential. In the future, I will try and participate in more groups to help others who are in need. I think the 'ripple effect' definately happens because if one person who is looked as a role model, they will follow their actions and also help.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW579icDRSA
I feel that this video is about a guy who can gather a community together and to accomplish they full potential
Kris,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your video. Helping and being kind to others is what community is all about. If we didn't do these things, living together in a community would never work.
Josh, I aagree with you on th video you posted.. it does show how someone can gather a community and show them that they can accomplish their full potential. I really enjoyed this video and it shows that no matter what were going through that there is always something good that we can look forward to and we shouldn't be limited to things in life.
ReplyDelete