Assisting the community

There have always been people in need in every community. From people needing a hand with finances to people who need food and shelter or even just warm clothes. With these people in the community there are people who are ready and willing donate their time to helping the less fortunate in their own community. Working at food pantries, soup kitchens,and churches, they are always there to help the people who need their assistance. Junior Anne Meister is one of these people regularly volunteering at soup kitchens and for girl scouts.

“I got involved [at the soup kitchen] during my 7th grade year,” Meister said. “I volunteer with my [girl scout] troop and we usually volunteer like every two months.”

There are still more volunteer opportunities in the community and more people willing to help. Sophomore Tyler Belina also volunteers in the community.

“I volunteered at Harvest Christian food pantry doing the shopping carts,” Belina said. “I also help with a backpack program.”

Finding time to volunteer can be challenge for high schoolers who are occupied with homework, studying, and extra curricular activities. Most of the time they give is free time for themselves.

“During the summer it’s every tuesday and monday if I can be there,” Belina said.

Another problem can be distance going to the charity. While upperclassmen have less of a problem with this underclassmen looking to volunteer might lack transportation but there are still charities stationed nearby.

“You can always find something in your neighborhood,” Meister said. “There’s soup kitchens just downtown [you can go to] most any church [and ask if they have one].”

Volunteering is also a place to make memories. The emotional rush is also a driving force behind volunteering in the community.

“I feel good about helping people and giving back to the people and the community I’m a part of,” Belina said. “[My favorite part of volunteering is] just the joy of seeing the people getting the help they really need.”

Many of Meister’s favorite moments happen talking to the people receiving food, but there’s still one that takes the cake.

“There’s this one guy that, like, had an eyepatch,” Meister said. “I was like why [do] you have an eyepatch and he [said] I used to be a pirate on the river [but] that didn’t turn out to be a job so now I’m homeless.”

There are many volunteering opportunities in the community and charities are always looking for new volunteers to help. There’s always a need for volunteers to help the less fortunate and there are never enough volunteers to help the community.

“Currently we are always looking for volunteers,” Belina said. “[The food bank is] probably 15 minutes away. It’s always an interesting time having new people [helping out].”

There are even volunteer opportunities at school. Officer Inserra is responsible for the Police Corps, a volunteer program for students to help the police staff events.

“[Whenever we] have an event like the St. Patrick’s Parade, national night out in the park, or any type of run we have,” Inserra said. “It feels great [to have] kids see what we do and it shows them what it takes to be a police officer.”