Volunteering

Averill Park High School Volunteering: 30 hours

This is a picture from the Northeastern Regional Food Bank website. It shows under my account that I have about 28 hours of volunteering but that is likely due to me going there again to volunteer for the HVCC Honor society. In APHS I had about 26 hours of volunteering at the Northeastern Regional Food Bank and 4 hours at the Sand Lake Town library giving me my 30 hours.

In order to get into the Averill Park High School National Honor Society, I needed 15 hours of volunteering. I was worried about this, not because I would have to spend time volunteering, but because our transportation at the time wasn't great. So, the first thought that came to mind was our local library because I enjoyed when I was brought to the library as a kid. So, I got on my bike and rode the 5 miles to the library despite my condition at the time making it painful to do so, I wouldn't give up. After getting winded riding down there I immediately asked the librarian what they could use help with. She told me that I could do some dusting so I spent about two hours dusting everywhere I could think of. One hallway that was rarely used was so dusty that dusting actually made dust clouds form in the air. I even went to dust in the basement. Then I asked her what else I could do, and she told me she didn't expect me to stick around this long. She decided I could then wash the library's windows. She taught me that window cleaner worked better with newspaper than it did with tissue or paper towels, so not only did I end up cleaning all the windows, but I learned something too. After another 2 hours, she said the windows hadn't been that shiny in a long time and it made her very happy. I was lucky enough to get a ride home with my brother afterward, but it is an experience I will always cherish remembering the smile on her face as she saw the clean windows. An additional tip she gave me was to keep a record of my volunteering, which is helping me now to create this e-portfolio so once again I thank her. I didn't know it at the time but during the senior awards, I ended up winning an annual library award for my volunteering. That was only about 4 hours though. My mom called around and found out that I could volunteer with the Northeastern Regional Food Bank with a ride from my brother on the weekends when he didn't have to work. So, I made up the 15 hours over my 11th grade summer. In order to maintain the Averill Park National Honor Society status for graduation however, you needed to serve another 15 hours for every additional year you were in it. Since I joined as a senior, I only needed 15 more hours. With the help of my brother and the Northeastern Regional Food Bank I was able to make up the next 15 hour and graduated APHS with honors and being part of the Honor society. An interesting thing I learned from volunteering at the Northeastern Regional Food Bank is that bananas have to be stored and shipped separately because they release the gas ethylene as they ripen which can cause other fruits and vegetables to ripen faster meaning they soil faster.

HVCC volunteering as of 1st Fall semester:

Northeastern Regional Food Bank in Latham:

I helped sort donated items with other members of the HVCC Honors College at the Northeastern Regional Food Bank.

Creative Communication Associates marketing firm workshop:

They wanted to have a meeting with student to learn more about our college. With other college peers we gave insight. Here is the website.

South End Children's Cafe in Albany/Halloween Event:

I helped give out candy and other items to kids at the South End Children's Cafe with my HVCC Honors College crew. Most of us decided to dress up which the kids appreciated.

Troy Turkey Trot at La Salle Institute

I volunteered with my HVCC Honors College associates to help package and give necessary items to runners participating in the Troy Turkey Trot at the La Salle Institute. Volunteers got a free shirt and turkey gloves!

HVCC Honors College book drive:

Students sorted through donated bvooks and packaged them to be delivered to various New York State Correctional facilities.

I helped HVCC Honors College members sort through the donated books to be given to incarcerated people. Here is a link from the college chronicle Student Announcements | HVCC

Glendale Nursing Home in Glenville/cardmaking:

Helped make handmade cards to give to residents at the nursing home.

One of my HVCC Honors College peers had a suggestion to make Christmas/Holiday cards for residents at the Glendale nursing home. I helped make cards with my HVCC Honors College peers. I might not have been as decorative or creative, but I was certainly very efficient and it was a lot of fun!

Glendale caroling.mov

Glendale Nursing Home in Glenville/caroling:

I had the pleasure of singing Christmas carols to the Glendale nursing home residents as suggested by the same person who suggested making the cards. Again, it was a lot of fun, and you could tell how much the residents appreciated it.

HVCC volunteering as of 1st Spring semester:

HVCC "Best Of" campaign:

I volunteed with the HVCC marketing team to get people to vote HVCC as Best College in the Capital Region of New York. You might think that it would get boring after doing it for 5 days, but the marketing team kept it interesting by changing it up each day. The most significant thing I did was go around campus with fliers that told people how to vote and told them what makes HVCC stand out from other college campuses. Other things I helped with were preparing and handing out free pizza, merchandise, cookies, breakfast bars, and more. It was a great opportunity to get to know more of the students on campus and put myself out there. It's also cool to know that I was part of helping the campus win as evidenced by this page posted in the campus chronicle: Hudson Valley Community College Voted “Best College” in the Capital Region | HVCC

Glendale Nursing Home in Glenville/bingo:

I volunteered at the Glendale Nursing home once again to help the residents play their monthly bingo game. It was set up by the same person who initiated the card making and caroling. We helped set up the chairs and tables for the residents that wanted to come down and play bingo. Then during the game we helped the residents place the chips on the different numbers if they were having any difficulty or if they didn't hear the number called. All the residents were very kind and offered any life advice that they had. They were very passionate about their bingo and just about everyone wanted to win. As someone who doesn't play a lot of bingo, I learned different way to play as the rounds were quite diverse. We ended off the night by helping the resident back up to their rooms for bed and cleaning up the bingo supplies and tables and chairs. Helping the residents was kind of like playing five bingo cards at once, it was a cool experience.

South End Children's Cafe in Albany/Easter Egg Hunt:

I volunteered with my HVCC Honors peers at the South End Children's Cafe to help hide easter eggs for kids. We started by setting up some activities in the cafe such as bracelet making for after the easter egg hunt and putting surprises in some of the eggs such as money, candy, or small toys. After that we set out to hide the eggs around a path of street all the way to Philip Street Park. When the kids arrived with their chaperones, they looked like they were having a blast. They collected all the eggs in under 30 mins but seeing them so happy made it worth the setup time.

HVCC Festival of Nations Luncheon

On April 11th from 11-12:30pm I volunteered at the HVCC Festival of Nations Luncheon. The luncheon was setup to help represent the diversity of the student body of HVCC by showing off different cultures in the Siek Campus Center. I was unaware this was a volunteering opportunity until the morning of the event, but I figured I could still come and show off my culture as well. There was no Ireland booth setup so I setup something myself. While most other booths brought their own cultural items to talk about, I looked up an article from Britain's imperial past towards Ireland as a talking point. I just so happened to have a project and essay about my culture to learn more about myself in Honors English Composition 1. For anyone that was interested I told them about Irelands history and how I came to be. The event featured many different cultures, foods, and live music.

HVCC Marx's Golf Classic

I volunteered at the Troy Country Club to help with the 30th Annual U.W. Marx Golf Classic benefitting the HVCC Foundation and Honors College. Me and my Honors peers helped to distribute beverages and snacks at assigned stations to the golfers and then helped to sell raffle tickets for gift baskets before dinner was served to help the fundraiser as well. It was a good opportunity to put myself out there and meet new people interested in helping the HVCC Honors College. Here is the website.

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