Running Head: CALL TO SERVE POST-REFLECTION 1

Call to Serve Post-Reflection

Melissa Yeager

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

Dr Angel Daniels, DNP, MSN.ed, RN, CCM

NUR 3116

October 20, 2019

“I pledge”
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Call to Serve Post-Reflection

I will reflect on what is was like to be an atheist participating in a Christian outreach

program: Moments of Hope Outreach for the homeless. As I wrote in my pre-reflection, the

principles of servant leadership include listening, empathy, awareness and stewardship: I saw all

of these principles in operation (Neill & Saunders, 2008, pp.396-8). I observed the volunteer

team setting up for the afternoon in an almost-perfectly choreographed ballet, even as homeless

participants arrived early and either joined in the set up or sat down and patiently waited. I saw

and heard people who are passionate about their mission and know and love their role in it, and

that many of the homeless people who come to the outreach project are familiar and dear to the

volunteers. There is a great deal of community. I joined in to do whatever was asked of me: I put

out chairs, moved tables, organized clothes and helped to give them out, and chatted with the

participants. As I expected I saw people who are living through great challenges: I did not expect

them to be so cheerful and happy to be there.

I am an atheist, and also a spiritual person, and I expected to be uncomfortable at the

outreach. I greatly respect people of faith: my worry was that I would be asked to pray with

someone and that there might be a difficulty if I declined or simply offered to hold space for

them while they prayed. I am not a hypocrite. There was indeed a religious element to the

outreach, including a talk by the leader, Bob, and an expectation that people would pray together

in small groups. Many participants liked this part, and joined in as appropriate, and I observed

several small groups praying together, although the ‘prayer table’ was noticeably empty most of

the time. While Bob clearly includes ‘saving souls’ in his mission, there was no requirement that
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I could see for participants to join in as a quid pro quo for accessing the food, medical, clothing

and other services available: these were available to everyone, which was reassuring to me. One

interesting problem I saw was that some homeless participants were leaving the outreach with

literally more than they could carry – a tent, a sleeping bag, clothes, food and toiletries. People

helped each other as a solution.

My experience at the outreach reinforced for me just how much people want to talk, and

be seen and heard, just as much as they want and need material things. The young mother wanted

to show off her baby and talk about her other children. The young man wanted to tell us about

his new job. The older lady wanted to tell us about how she had become homeless, and what she

was trying to do to get her family into shelter, and how determined she was not to resort to

prostitution. I did not have to try hard to offer empathy, a smile and a listening ear, because these

were fellow human beings fallen on hard times, and although I am financially secure now, that

was not always the case. It was satisfying to help people find the clothes they needed, and to

relay their requests back to David, the clothing organizer. I was humbled too, by people’s quiet

acceptance that they could only take two items each, when their need was so great: they

recognized one another’s needs too. I think that to best meet the needs of this population in the

future, I need to continue to work with homeless pregnant people (I already do) and to

understand the particular challenges they confront. I think it would also be helpful to have a

geographical list of resources like Moments of Hope Outreach: one man had come all the way

from the southside looking for clothes, only to find we did not have anything in his size. It would

have been nice to have been able to direct him to a similar resource closer to where he was

living.
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How has this service-learning activity influenced me? It has not influenced my academic

life. Personally, I expected to feel uncomfortable with the religious aspects of this activity and I

was, but I lean into that discomfort as a way of growing as a human being. I know and accept

how important the Bon Secours Mercy Health mission is to most of its workforce, and I stand by

my commitment and ability to offer good help to those in need, even from a secular perspective.

It is incredibly rewarding to offer help to people in such desperate need, because it gives such a

real and visceral sense of making a difference: it is a gift to be there. In addition, I am able to

witness and hold space for religious activities even as a non-participant, which is reassuring. I

really enjoyed my time with Moments of Hope.

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References

Neill, M.W. & Saunders, N.S. (2008). Servant leadership: enhancing quality of care and staff

satisfaction. The Journal of Nursing Administration 38(9). 395-400.