Service in the community

     I have grown up in the church so I have grown up doing mission work and service activities through youth groups and other church organizations.  From feeding the homeless to building a house I have done it all, or what I would say is all considering the limited ability I would have as a young child to help.  Every opportunity I had to do a service activity I would do willingly without force from another person.  I enjoy helping others around me and find a certain satisfaction knowing that I have helped a person's life become better through my service.
     Every service I have given to someone else has been my own doing apart from a service club where I was required to do a certain amount of hours each semester to maintain membership.  Unfortunately, I have never been able to connect my service within a course I was taking in high school to combine learning with service.  I am grateful that this year I am given the opportunity to do both.
     My only job has been as a YMCA counselor over the summer at a day camp.  Although I was getting paid to be there, I enjoyed the time I spent with the campers every day and seeing the joy on their faces with all the fun they had.  Most of the campers were able to afford to go to day camp, but some of the campers were at the camp on a scholarship from the YMCA through a fundraising program.  Working with these campers really makes me appreciate being able to offer a child the same experience I had as a camper.  I would easily help out these campers even if I was not getting paid just to see the joy and fun they would experience.  This joy of working with kids is the reason I chose to do the mentoring program because I want to work with a child one-on-one to help their life become a little bit better.  Stay tuned to see how my service-learning is doing!