Community Service – Finding Your Cause
“Find a cause that you are passionate about and work it like a nine to five job”.
On Monday, May 2, 2011, my heart briefly stopped beating. My youngest brother, Bernard, was shot and killed by the town’s policeman. He was shot twice in the chest and once in the arm. He had worked the late shift at Wal-Mart and stopped by the town hall which housed the police office to pay for a broken tail light ticket for his daughter, Briana. I wasn’t there to know all the details but he was getting into his truck and it was in reverse mode when his life suddenly was taken.
I soon found a community service that I could remember my brother by on a daily basis. I am presently a hospice volunteer to assist families with terminally ill family members with a smooth transition from life to death. My family and I were not given that opportunity with Bernard. A guy who would give you the shirt off his back and who unconditionally loved his fellow brothers and sisters. He was also God fearing. It was evidenced by the thousands of mourners who attended his home going services.
It is important that one find a cause and make the connection. There are so many things that we can volunteer our time but it must be meaningful and worthwhile. I admonish you to find your passion. When you are providing service to benefit others; you are making payment for life on earth. It is one of the greatest rewards when you are helping others in various ways. The local food bank, youth center, church, hospital, nursing homes, political parties and causes, special Olympics, half-way house, house for battered women, meals on wheels, boys and girls club, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, etc., are always seeking volunteers for service.
We are born with a number of talents, skills, and special gifts and we can use them to make someone else life much better. Some of us are born with the gift to dance, sing, speak, draw, and act. I suggest that you begin to work with individuals who are not able to pay for dance or music lessons to fulfill their goals in life. There is just not any excuse for volunteering service to those in need.
College students want to graduate from college and become gainfully employed for career success. Community service can assist you with your career. Application for a dream job begins with knowledge, ability and education but community service can spell the difference between first and second place in an employment contest. When an employer looks at a resume that includes community service, it is an indication to the employer that the applicant wants to make an impact in society and that is what employers are seeking in new hires. Community service usually originate from the urge to help other people, a smart employee can accomplish two missions simultaneously. Community service can be the key to upward mobility, no matter where you are standing on the career ladder.
In closing, community service is a giving of yourself and what you have without expectation, reward, or recognition. Service, giving of yourself, is the best way to build an account in the universal bank. What you give comes back to you tenfold. As you give of yourself; you open your mind and heart to the joy of unconditional love. You find work in what may appear to be an unworthy situation. Therefore, I urge you to take an inventory of your skills and experience and find a way to use those skills in community projects or organizations to which you belong.