The demands of being a full-time student, who works and hopes to maintain some form of a social life generally doesn’t allow for volunteer work. That’s why I trembled when Daisy De Paz, a recent Water Quality intern at Delaware River Basin Commission asked me if I could volunteer to face-paint children with her for a day at Trenton’s Capital City farm (the city’s first commercial urban farm). Despite feeling like there was no time in my schedule for this event, I chose to volunteer anyway, and the result was incredible.
Going into it I was full of nerves, my main concern being that I simply wouldn’t do a good job. As I watched the yellow school bus approach, full of children from the Boys and Girls after school program, all of my fears began to built. Yet they vanished moments later as we were bombarded by anxious and excited five-year-olds.
“Can you make me look like Avatar the Last Air Bender?” they asked.
I painted ladybugs, Spidermans, and Avatar the Last Airbender on more kids than I an count. And somewhere amongst the chaos, the paint, the questions about the number of legs on spiders, and whether or not I could paint them, I had two feelings I had not experienced since I started college: peace and purpose.
Being presented with a single task, so simple and without consequences, was freeing; and the smiles and bright eyes of the children as they saw their faces painted was rewarding on its own.
Shahrukh Malik, a fellow student at Mercer, who is majoring in Biology also resonated with this experience and says that the last time he did volunteer work he left, “Bubbly and really happy.”
According to the American Psychological Association, volunteering “is good for your mind and body,” and it “helps you make new friends, expand your network, and boost your social skills.” This may be due to the fact that volunteering leaves people with a sense of fulfillment and purpose, while also allowing them to interact with others in their community.
The simplicity of knowing that you have done something for someone else, and that you have in some way made their day better, can help relieve some of the stress that comes with being a student. If you’re thinking, “What can I possibly offer the world?” volunteering can offer the answer.
Ultimately, no matter how little we have, we always have something to offer, and community service can help college students forget about their issues while possibly finding a bit of peace along the way.
“It makes me feel good, not only because I’m helping but because I know that I am showing someone that there is kindness in the world.” De Paz says.
