BrianCaulkins

Brian Caulkins
March 11, 2009
Psychology 350
Reflection for Alternative Spring Break – Day #5


Today was our last of volunteer work. Our last day of work was to be volunteered at the Nashville Rescue Mission. Our group had already been their once before and knew what to expect. Our objective for most of the morning was organizing and shelving canned foods. It is hard for the mission to give out the food if they do not know what they have. It didn’t seem like much to shelve the canned food and organize it but it meant a lot to the rescue mission. The last day to me was more of a relaxing one. We did work but the work was not strenuous and everlasting. One of the funniest things that I thought happened today was having so much canned pumpkin. I have never seen caned pumpkin and the mission had boxes and boxes of it. After our morning work of shelving and organizing canned foods we went to lunch.

One of the more rewarding things that happened today was the fact that every time a full-time worker made eye contact he knew who you were and spoke right away. They recognized us and were still appreciative of our hard work. Some even started talking right away. After lunch we went back down to the basement to work. Our job for the rest of the evening was organizing bed linens and putting them in the right bins. Although this was easy and boring work, it was still productive. We also had fun while working too. Every half-hour the employees would offer us a drink or ask if we needed anything. It was almost if they were catering us. One of the distinct phrases I remember one of them saying was “you are a blessing from God.” At first I thought to myself how weird it was to hear such a thing but then I realized that some people might not get as many blessing as me. They appreciate every little blessing that they can get.

One exciting thing that happened to me today was having the feeling of accomplishment. It was our last day of work and I can honestly say that my work during the whole week was productive and helpful. I can tell people that I made a difference in some peoples live because I took a little of my time to help out a lot of people. There is no way to measure how many people will benefit from our help but it is rewarding just to know that I helped just one person in need.

The frustrating thing that I experienced today was how some people took advantage of the last day of volunteering and didn’t do anything. They sat around all day and would do absolutely nothing. It didn’t make me mad that they were not working; it made me mad that they would not work for other people who needed their help. There is a different feeling you get when you help somebody cause they ask and when you help somebody who doesn’t ask and really needs it. I just wish that they would realize that just a little bit of work would help the organization out tremendously.