By Elyse Voyen, CCI Greenheart Staff
The Greenheart Club held its Fifth Annual National Essay Contest for all CCI Greenheart exchange students and their high school classmates this year. Students were asked:
“Service to a just cause rewards the worker with more real happiness and satisfaction than any other venture of life.” —Carrie Chapman CattReflect on and describe a specific positive volunteer experience you have had within the past year. How did this experience make you feel? How did it impact those you were serving? How do you intend to continue spreading happiness through service within our world?
The winning essay receives a $500 grant to do a Greenheart Service Project at the student’s high school. We received an array of inspirational essays from youth across the country. After careful consideration of all the essays, a winner was chosen.
This year’s winner is Irina Pershina from Russia. Irina wrote an insightful, reflective essay about her experience working with Green Good Neighbors, an organization that gives food to low income families in the City of Green, Ohio. Her essay illustrated a deep commitment and understanding of volunteerism. Irina is also a member of the Greenheart Club and has volunteered 85.5 hours this academic year! We at Greenheart are excited to see what she does for her Greenheart Service Project and we would like to wish her a heartfelt congratulations! Read Irina’s essay below.
It’s the Small Things that Change the World for the Better
By Irina Pershina
What is volunteering? It is an investment in the future and well-being of our planet and global community. It helps develop a desire for making our world better, to become more compassionate, and to realize that you are not the only person on Earth. Dedicating a little time to the community makes you feel like a valuable member of society. We are all valuable people but some of us just did not have enough luck in life. After my exchange year I know that I will keep on volunteering no matter where I am, even though it will be harder in my home country. It has become a part of me and will be for the rest of my life. It is hard to express with words the impact volunteering has had on me and how it has broadened my mind, but I will try.
Green Good Neighbors is a place where families with low income can get their food supplies for free. Al, who is in charge of the organization, is in his 70s. He does everything himself from getting and restocking food to giving it away to people. Although he has a few helpers, he is the one to whom many people going through economic hardship can give a huge thank you.
I started volunteering there every Saturday back in November. Each time, we restocked food in a certain order, so that it would be easier to give away to people when they came in. Usually people do not go there on Saturdays, but one day a lady, who Al had told me about earlier, showed up to get some food. She is a grandma who raises her two grandchildren because her daughter passed away and her son-in-law went to prison. She took on the responsibility of bringing up her grandchildren. Since she is retired it is hard for her to satisfy all their needs and wants. That is why she needed some help from Green Good neighbors. She goes there every Wednesday, but once she paid us a visit on Saturday. This was my first experience with providing someone with food.
There is a minimum of how much a person can take based on the number of members in their household; however, it is estimated that everyone gets enough food. When the elderly lady came on Saturday she got some extra sweets because every Friday Panera donates fresh bread and cakes. They expire by Wednesday and Al wanted to give her some quickly-expiring goods. At first, I could tell that she was uncomfortable taking extra food, but then Al talked her into it. Throughout the whole process of selecting grocery goods she remained shy and polite. Every time we gave her one thing she said “thank you”. She was so grateful and happy and she could not stop thanking us. We loaded her car with products, and she left. I could really see the importance of what I was doing. The old lady did not have to worry about spending money on food. Instead, she could save it for college or for nice birthday and Christmas presents for her two grandchildren!
Al dedicates his life to helping people; he spends most of his time at Green Good neighbors. He is a very passionate and loyal volunteer and contributes a lot to making this world a better place. Apart from Al, there are two other men who volunteer with us on Saturdays: Tom and Lou. Tom is always singing while Lou teases him good-naturedly. They always joke and tell funny stories. The volunteers of Green Good neighbors know that good deeds bring satisfaction to both givers and receivers. They made me think about what volunteering means to society.
Every hour devoted to people who need support is a small step towards a cooperative and understanding world. The idea that I made someone’s life a little better and easier brings happiness to my heart. Kindness, honesty, and compassion, it all may sound corny but those qualities are a keystone of human perfection. Greed, selfishness and a strong desire for getting money by any means destroy us. A heart with pure intentions gives you what no money can buy – a feeling of accomplishing something great and sincere gratitude from those who you served.
People do everything for a reward. The result of volunteering is a reward in itself. You know that you helped someone and it gives you the drive and energy to do more volunteering. There are thousands of volunteers who improve this world every day. Their joint efforts should be an object of admiration because they devote their personal time to make others’ lives better.
Why do volunteers never stop their work? The answer is simple: once you do it, you start thinking about all the positive results. You realize that even little participation in serving your community is beneficial to the world. Volunteering consists of many large and small acts done every day. When added together, incredible amounts of kindness and love are produced.
All these ideas and thoughts dawned on me after I started volunteering. I like spending my Saturdays at Green Good neighbors. This way I know that I’m not wasting my life, for I am bringing happiness to a small community in Ohio called “City of Green”. I do not need any kind of recompense for my donated time and effort because I know that I am doing it for the sake of people and I truly believe that “Service to a just cause rewards the worker with more real happiness and satisfaction than any other venture of life.”
Keep an eye out for the blog about Irina’s Greenheart Project!
