Volunesia.(n) that moment when you forget you’re volunteering to help change lives, because it’s changing yours.
Whenever I volunteer, I always think I’m making a greater impact on the people I’m helping, but it always ends up being the opposite. Every volunteer opportunity that I participate in makes an impact on me.
Enloe has provided many opportunities to volunteer. From working at marathons with Key Club to volunteering at hospitals for the Medical Bioscience Academy, it always makes an impact on me. So, it comes as no surprise that my favorite part of Charity Ball is working with the actual charity. I guess it might be easy to focus on just the goal of 150K, but the personal relationship that we can build with (the Raleigh-Wake Partnership to end Homelessness) is what motivates me. I can see and feel how we can help, and it has become my passion.
As the Holiday Season approaches, I realize how thankful I am for Oak City Outreach, a center run by the Raleigh-Wake Partnership. Oak city Outreach works all year, day in and day out, constantly helping those in need. Over the summer I thought I was suffering through the heat in the sun for a couple hours spray painting flowers at the center. And then, last week, when I couldn’t feel my hands from the cold, while I was giving out food, I had a true appreciation for those that work at the center. Volunteering at Oak city Outreach has shown me their strength, gratefulness, endurance, and flexibility to a variety of situations. They have helped me have a different perspective on life and what people have to go through, where there is no comparison.
So join me in this goal of putting an end to homelessness and 150k. Start by volunteering at Oak City Outreach, invite friends, donate to charity, encourage your parents to make a donation. Not only will you be making a change for those who are served by the Raleigh-Wake Partnership, but a change in yourself and how you see others that are in need.
Avery Swartz
Executive Council Member