This morning I went to OSU's Community Commitment. I originally planned to go with a group I'm in but I couldn't find the members so the people in charge put me into a random group labeled A2. I had thought that immediately after that, the volunteering activities would begin. That, however, wasn't the case and I was bombarded by some speakers on stage talking. As they talked, I kept wondering: where are my group? Did I hear wrong and am I sitting in the right place? What are we going to do? After awhile, they soon called groups out to board the bus. It took some time and awkward standing and walking around until I finally found my group which consisted of two site leaders and 10 girls from a sorority. We boarded the bus with 3 or 4 other groups.
The volunteering part wasn't without some complications. The bus dropped us off second and then left us to an empty school building which, upon seeing, we had trouble identifying (it said middle school on the building but there was also a sign saying it was a high school). We wandered around and even inside, trying to find a person. Well.....it turns out that we were dropped off to the wrong location!! The school relocated to another building. So, for awhile, we were stranded there until another bus came, and even that we weren't sure WHEN it'll come IF it does comes. While waiting, the sorority girls joked around and made a "Help" sign for fun.
The bus came at 11:44 AM and we arrived to the correct school at around, my guess, 12 PM. We met with the custodian or janitor I think and soon we started doing some yardwork and raking leaves. I first raked and put the leaves in a bag by myself and then I joined some of the girls to work on the fence area. While they packed the leaves away there, I swept away the dirt into the fence. We stopped at around 1:10 and headed toward the Union. Overall, I left feeling good. A2 was nice. The janitor and the bus drivers were friendly. Our work, while delayed, still had a significant impact on improving the school's exterior. But, I was a little annoyed that Obama came to the Ohio Union while a bunch of people were volunteering.
Wow, this came out lengthy.
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ReplyDeleteI was there too! Only my group was pushed into the surplus volunteers (which is awesome that we had surplus volunteers!) to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the homeless. Although we were a little disappointed that we couldn't go somewhere off campus and meet new people, we were at the Union when President Obama came. So it sounds like each person's experience was rewarding in different ways :)
ReplyDeleteMy community commitment experience was far from glamorous. Our group was sent to beautify the streets of Columbus by cleaning up litter, broken glass and excess garbage. Each person was given a glove and a trash bag and we walked along 13th and 14th streets to clean up Columbus! While it sounds gross and awful, it was actually a very enjoyable experience! Seeing Obama was the icing on the cake!
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