Molly Cannon Cannon, 1

Dr. Carole Thomas

HNR 211
11/29/23

Preparation

To prepare for my 40 hours of service commitment, I started contacting organizations on the list

sent out over the summer. Unfortunately, I did not hear back from any of these organizations

even after sending follow-up emails. I decided to focus on finding an organization when I was

back in Tiffin. As an RA, I took some of my freshmen to the Around the Town Fair at the

beginning of the school year. This is how I found out about Sisters in Shelter. They had a booth

set up, and I explained to them how I needed 40 hours of community service by the end of the

semester. I got their emails and started to get my hours set up. Before volunteering for Sisters in

Shelter though, I had to get a background check because of the nature of the organization. After

my background check was cleared, I had to attend an information session with other volunteers

to learn more about their goals as an organization and learn how to speak properly with women

who are survivors of sexual violence. This includes questions to not ask the victims and topics

that you should avoid discussing at the shelter house.

Actions

Since Sisters in Shelter was still an organization recovering from losing funding from COVID-

19, they were still cleaning up their shelter house in order to host women again. My first task as a

volunteer was to help them with that. We cleaned out a room where they could hold important

files and medications. We also made cabinets for hygiene products so that the women could

easily find them. There were large donation bins we went through as well and put in a cabinet so

the women would have access to nice purses and clothes. My second task before the house

opened was to help them organize their office space. I got rid of lots of binders of old meeting

notes and calendars that they no longer needed. I also organized their Sisters in Shelter t-shirts so
 2

that they could easily find the right size. After that, they told me that they wanted an “Apps to

Look Out For” presentation made. They wanted to offer this presentation to people in the

community, specifically parents, so that they would know what apps to look out for their

children using. These apps have security concerns with many of them even being marketed as

“talking to stranger apps”. These apps could be used for harassment and grooming, making this

presentation very important to share. I created an information sheet as well to go along with the

presentation. Another thing that I did was set up Sisters in Shelter with the Alpha Phi Tau

fraternity on campus as potential volunteers for information events they may have. After I

completed that, the shelter house was open and I could start working shifts there. The shelter

house has a volunteer in it 24/7. While you are there you help the women with any needs that

they may have. One of your biggest tasks is to get them their medicine because it cannot be left

out due to safety concerns.

Reflections

I learned a lot from this work. The reason I was interested in it in the first place was because of

another volunteer opportunity I had in high school. This volunteer opportunity taught me

information about slavery in the modern world, which includes sexual violence. Volunteering at

Sisters in Shelter taught me more about sexual violence and how common it actually is, even in a

small town like Tiffin. Surprisingly, around here, most of the sexual violence occurs within

families and/or friends of the victims. From my work, I would like to educate others on the topic

of sexual violence and warning signs to look out for. I think it is important to educate women

because they are the primary victims of these crimes, but also men because they can be affected

too. Men will also benefit by being able to identify warning signs of sexual violence, even if it is
 2

not impacting them directly. It was impactful being able to help these women and form

relationships with them while I was volunteering at this organization.

Conclusion

My service project helped me fulfill the mission statement of the honors program by forming a

habit of commitment to the community. This opportunity showed me how easy it was to get

involved and give back to the community. It gave me a sense of social responsibility as well

because volunteering in our local community is beneficial to the society of this community and

helping women recover from sexual violence is beneficial to society as a whole. It also allowed

for my free inquiry. Being able to choose the organization I volunteered for gave me a choice to

explore different organizations and choose a topic I would like to learn more about and help out

with.