Philosophical Mornings: Give Back

Ok so this post is a little late in the making.. like i wrote it on my tablet and forgot to post it from last week kind of late.. but who cares its on now! lol

So last week i had taken the opportunity to participate in two volunteer activities for New York Cares. For those of you that don't know, New York Cares is a large non-profit organization that sole purpose is volunteering within the community/across the world. You do an orientation either online or in person and from then on pick which activities fits you. They range from dealing with young children (tutoring, arts and crafts, community cleanup, etc) to senior citizens to special needs to beautifying certain parks/areas. They have more well know activities like soup kitchens, coat drives, toy drives, and such.

So last Tuesday, I was at a center for the blind called VISIONS i was with a group called creative expressions and there we were doing arts and crafts with the visually challenged/impaired. And it was so much fun. When i got there, i was a bit late since i ended up on the east side and it was over on the West, so i had to wait a bit for more people to come in. the room was small but had many projects and supplies in there. I was paired with a lovely older woman named Shannon, she was heavily visually impaired but not completely blind. She runs her own meetup group at the center under the name Moonpie and i was called moonpie so many times that night. She was so sweet and it was great working with her. i helped her decorate two drawstring bags that she was going to give away as Christmas presents to her friends. I felt good after spending time with her.

And friday (the day after thanksgiving) i joined my friend Marcy at the Queens Library for Teens in Far Rockaway. There we were setting up Christmas decorations at the center. We were a large group and, there were many volunteers from NYCares and the center itself. Also as the students came in they were separated into each of the groups that were there to help out with each window display. We were given food and interacted with the teens making conversation, asking them about their interests, answering questions that they asked us. It was a good experience.

All in all, this post was to show that it pays to give back. Whether its something small or big, you'll feel good afterwards. I sure did. And im sorry that it took me so long to start volunteering since i did my orientation over the summer.

Find the time to give back, donate, volunteer, lend a shoulder/ear to someone who needs it. Or even seek help if you're the one that needs it.

-A.Soul
#mattersoftheheart