Samantha Salinas

Summary

For my service learning, I decided to do my hours at “Our Savior’s Lutheran Church” which was
in Henderson, so it was quite a drive for me. For the service, I had to pack groceries, and wheel
them into people’s cars and place them into their trunks. So, to explain, the church provided
food, like groceries to people it would include stuff like dairy, bread, meats, etc. people had
scheduled times to show up to pick up their needs and would bring their cards that showed they
were people who needed the groceries that was provided by the church. We would pack some
groceries and place them into carts once we did that, we would grab the card/cards and give it
back to them and place their groceries in the trunk. Another thing we did was restock
food/groceries, we would wait for the donation trucks to come and we would put the stuff in
carts and weigh stuff like the meats and dairy. We would then separate the foods and restock
them in bins, shelves, and refrigerators. We would clean up and throw away all the boxes that
were no longer useful and it was a cycle it was very tiring, to be quite honest, especially since
it’s really hot outside. I had a really fun time because my mom and my friend came along and
helped as well, so I had so much fun and really enjoyed doing it with people that I love. The
service met individual and community needs because it provided me with the skills of
communication, teamwork, and organization, which are important in the career path that I want
to pursue. Volunteering in the community broadens your horizons by allowing you to better
grasp the requirements of the society and the population you are attempting to assist; via the
project you are working on. It's not the same as being directly involved when you read or hear
about concerns, which is why it was so important to experience it firsthand. Another way
community service helped me is because I am a very introverted person, I am very shy with
people that I do not know, I normally won’t start a conversation with anyone if they don’t talk to
me first either so doing this service where I had to talk to people and welcome them and have
conversations with them really helped a bit more on my shyness, it was really fulfilling because
it’s something I don’t normally do so I was proud of myself because I went out and did it, before
I wouldn’t have even thought of doing that. Doing the service hours was also really fulfilling
knowing that I was helping people and providing support to someone who needed it was really
motivating. Knowing that if I was in the position of being the one who needed the helping hand
and have someone volunteering to help me, who had the resources and time out of their day, I
would’ve definitely been so thankful. This was also very useful because it can help enhance my
resumes. For example, in the past, I have done a lot of community service I was in key club, so
we had to do community service hours in order to go on trips and gain skills. I’ve volunteered in
places like NASCAR, which I was able to put down on my work resume and I eventually landed
a job as a lifeguard at Mandalay Bay. I now have more work-related skills to put down for my
future jobs and have gained those skills that can help me get the job as well! Helping the
community and giving back to people in need is such an important thing to do, for my service, I
got to interact with people of different ages and different cultural backgrounds, like religion,
gender, ethnicity’s, etc. It was really fun, and I hope that I can do this again sometime.