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Grace |
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Grace Brutto11/09/2000 Two years before I began college I worked with a group of Mexican migrants teaching them English, helping them fill out job applications, and even helping one family obtain their immigration papers and green cards. I loved my work and no matter how the migrants may have appreciated all that I did for them I appreciated them for allowing me to live out my dreams of service. It did not end there. The college I am at requires that all students have a labor position of ten hours a week. Through the Bonner Scholars Foundation I have been able to get paid while I work with middle school students on community service. One of the things we did with the seventh graders was go to the movie theater and see "Pay it Forward". This movie has become the basis for what we wish to accomplish with the program. The students have chosen to help benefit their school and community by renewing a Butterfly garden that was started several years ago by one of the teachers at the school. The students want to improve the condition of the garden and then encourage another group at their school to pick it up while they continue with three other projects to "pay it forward" to their community. Meanwhile, I am passing on my knowledge of community service which was made available by the witness of my parents and then the encouragement of the Bonner Scholars foundation-- an organization founded on community service. This summer I plan to "pay it forward" at a Catholic Worker House. There are so many organizations who are founded on the unspoken idea of "pay it forward".
Since last year when I was working with the students at the Berea Community School here in Berea, Kentucky we have worked on several projects. We went to the Ronald McDonald House and made cookies for the families of the sick children, we wrote letters to the military suggesting safer ways for getting rid of the nuclear and chemical weapons that are stored on a military base about 15 miles from our schools, and we created a butterfly garden for the community which continues to flourish and grow today with the assistance of the second grade class. While I am no longer working with the students I am sure that they are still working in community service related projects and on occasion I have met back up with them. I myself am teaching English as a Second Language to Hispanic migrants in the Berea and Richmond area as well as Basic Literacy with a touch on GED. I work through a college program called the Bonner Scholars and also through Project Read. I continue to put in volunteer hours in the local food drives and in the hospital. I participate in a college program called Adopt a Grandparent which reaches out to the long term care residents at the hospital. Community service
has been a large part of my life and I hope that I can continue
to reach out to those a little less fortunate than myself and lift
their spirits. My motto comes from Mother Teresa..."kind words
are short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless"
and always SMILE. Thanks for inviting me to reflect a little on
my experiences and share them with encouragement to others. |
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