Written Reflection 3

As the end of the semester draws near, I have to decide whether or not to continue volunteering with the organization. I have now completed all ten hours, so any more volunteering I do is superfluous, or perhaps done out of a sense of obligation because I agreed to keep helping through December. I have given my time to the organization, and I could walk away in December without having wronged them in any way.

A woman, who is not me, walking away
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Yet volunteering at Step-by-Step has taught me to be more patient, to be more understanding of people’s backgrounds, and to accept children, and by extension people, as they are, with no questions asked. Volunteering there has helped me realize how important it is to trust people even when they aren’t in good situations.

I have benefited greatly from Step by Step, even if in non-tangible ways.

Working with Step by Step also showed me the importance of having someone who cares. The children I work with know that I’m volunteering because of a class right now, and they want to know if I’ll come back even when I have all the hours I’m required to have. “Will you still help us?” They want me to care about them for who they are, not just because I need to get a good grade so I won’t lose my scholarship.

The children want me to care about them more than getting an 'A'.
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Faced with what I’ve already learned from volunteering and the children’s response, I don’t think I can in good conscience stop volunteering, any more than I could refuse to share my food with a starving man. They are in need of someone who will play games and listen patiently, and I need to be taught patience and to be reminded how to play. If I stop simply because I am no longer required to go, then I truly haven’t learned anything at all, and I will have wasted all of my time there. Yet if I keep going, I will be enriching children’s lives. When I return to Step by Step two weeks from tomorrow, I will be able to stop prevaricating when asked if I’ll come back, and wholeheartedly respond, “Yes.”