Two weeks ago, I attended my first Multicultural Learning Experience. I participated in a day of service by volunteering in honor of MLK Day. I also attended a ceremony after where different organizations representing different cultures gave a variety of performances. I took a lot away from this experience, more than I expected to and I am so happy I decided to volunteer.
This event started off at the HUB. As soon as I arrived we were told to pick a place to volunteer. I originally wanted to work with children, but it was full. Another option was to go to Nittany Valley Montessori School. I never heard of this place before so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was kind of sad because i wasn’t going to get the opportunity to work with kids. However, I ended up having an amazing time with the people I worked with and at the place we went to.
When we got to Montessori I realized that it was a children’s nursery. I was happy because although kids were not there, it was still nice to work in a children’s environment. After greeting some of the women who worked there, we were told we would be working outside. At first, my group and I were a little skeptical because we were told by volunteer leaders that the program stopped allowing work to be done outside because of the cold weather. However, it wasn’t that cold outside at all and we all had gloves so we chose to be optimistic about the situation and give it our all.
We ended up cleaning out a garden, racking out the leaves, dead plants and tomatoes. We also broke down cardboard boxes and moved some old furniture to the garage to put in storage for the winter. Although these seemed like small, miscellaneous tasks (except for the racking out leaves, that was hard labor lol), I couldn’t stop thinking about how much time and energy we were saving somebody else by doing it for them. That thought alone comforted me so much and brought me to a place where I realized the dream MLK really had, for us to help each other.
I always though MLK’s dream was for the black and white race to live together as one, in peace. Yes, this was his dream but this day of volunteering helped me realize it was so much more than that. MLK wanted us to help each other, serve each other, and genuinely be here for each other. This day, we were there for strangers who needed help and that’s all that mattered in this moment.
After volunteering, the women at the school couldn’t stop thanking us for what we did. However, I wanted to say thank you to them. For teaching me the value in helping people and for the warmth that was brought to my heart knowing I did something for someone else that I would have wanted to be done for me. That feeling was priceless, and I think that’s what life is really about- helping people.
Not only did I love volunteering, but it was a great meeting new people. I volunteered with three other women, much less people than the other groups, so it was much more intimate and a great bonding experience.
After a day of volunteering, we went back to the HUB to eat and watch some performances. We also listened a motivational speaker who talked about the importance of helping people, not just one day of services but whenever we have the chance to.
I definitely plan to make volunteering a big part of my life and I’m looking forward to helping people not just by volunteering, but every day I am granted the opportunity to. 🙂