Glenvar Winning Essays
First Place Winner: Lauren Allen “A Day of Caring”
Glenvar’s Day of Caring had a much bigger turnout than I think anyone expected. When Mr. Hicks announced the opportunity to basically miss a whole day of school to just go volunteer at one of the seven businesses that were willing to let us come, just about everyone was enthused. I must say, I was one of those people myself. I was thinking, “Hey, just how bad can it be? I come to school, leave during first period, and arrive back to school just in time to go to my last two classes! This is perfect, now all I have to do is decide which place to go!” Well all of the cheerleaders were going to Richifeld as a team and since I am a part of that team I figured I probably should go. I admit I was not too thrilled about going to Richfield
Recently my 81-year-old grandmother moved all the way from Buffalo, New York right to my house here in Salem, Virginia, because she could no longer live on her own and none of her daughters up there wanted to take care of her. My mom, the caring problem-solver, decided that she would take her mother in to our already crammed house. My grandmother hated the thought of leaving New York, but had no choice but to move down here. When she arrived, I realized not only would this affect her life, but it would greatly impact mine. My grandma has the beginning phases of Alzheimer’s and living with her requires a lot of patience. It seemed so easy to get frustrated with her when she was having one of her forgetting spells.
When I found out I was going to Richfield I was thinking, “Great, why would I want to spend a whole day of lots of forgetful old people, when I can barely handle my own grandmother?”
The Day of Caring finally was here and I just tried to put on my smiling face and do the couple hours of volunteering. We arrived at Richfield and were immediately given a tour. We were showed all the living quarters and I quickly met up with some of the residents there. As soon as we walked into a room and I saw the smiles on their faces, I felt a warming sense of relief in my heart. After our tour we went out to find some of the residents to see if they would like to come see our Vocal Ensemble sing. Many of them were so excited and even sang along or tapped their feet. When the choir finished their final song it was my turn to make someone’s day. We had the choice of painting nails, making crafts, or baking muffins. Just about everyone wanted to paint nails or make crafts so I decided to do the cooking, About 6 of us including myself walked into the kitchen where we would be baking the muffins. At first it was kind of hard to get the residents to want to help, but once we got one hooked more started coming. While the muffins were baking we all decided to do a 1,000 piece puzzle, which we all know is practically impossible to finish in about 15 minutes. While we were working on the puzzle we began chatting with some of the old ladies. They all had such interesting stories to tell, and even though they still repeated themselves a lot it was a blast. These women were hilarious and I loved getting to know them
Our time was finally up and it was time to head back to school. As we were leaving all the residents came out, waved good-bye, and gave us candy. It was so sweet! On the bus ride home, I began thinking. I started wondering why it was so easy for me to get along with these residents that I just met that day than it was for me to get along with my own grandmother. I realized what my problem was. Instead of putting myself in my grandma’s shoes I was only thinking about myself and how inconvenient her living with me was.
Since then it has been so much easier to stay patient with my grandma. I realize just because she cannot always remember my name does not mean she doesn’t care about me. She always is looking for things to do around the house and even through it may take her a while to finish the task she still gets it done. I have even made an effort to try and help her out a little more whereas instead I would avoid her and just stay in my room. I am so glad I went to Richfield on the Day of Caring, because I have so much more respect for my grandmother and I actually enjoy her living with us.
Second Place Winner: Holly Howell “Truly a Day of Caring”
This year, the United Way came up with a great idea to show and teach students from all over the Roanoke Valley how they could contribute and help out in their communities through the Day of Caring. This Day of Caring helped students like me to understand more about what goes on in the different places of this community that encourage many volunteers to come and help others who are less fortunate. While I was participating in this awesome experience, I learned some valuable information that I will carry with me on into the future.
The week before I was worried about which destination that I was to choose for this event. I read over the list of all the great events that the United Way had planned for us to do. They all seemed like they would be great experiences but there was one in particular that stuck out the most, the Salvation Army. I have always wanted to go there and see the inner workings that went on, first hand. This decision, I found later, was a great choice. Come to find out, I had a blast helping out with all of the neat things that we were fortunate enough to encounter.
While I was there the instructor helped my group start out with making nametags for boys and girls that were getting presents this Christmas from the Salvation Army. This took a lot of effort from everyone and with teamwork we got the job done in no time. After we finished this, we helped out with the Salvation Stockings. These stockings are seen during the holidays being filled by many who want to help out with a parent who does not have the money for buying Christmas gifts for their children. These Christmas stockings really make a difference in a child’s eyes because they give them something that might not have been given to them if it weren’t for the Salvation Army.
After we finished with the stockings, the instructor took us over to the actual Salvation Army store and while we were there the owner told us about how the store operated and how it changed people’s lives for the better. This part of the day was the most memorable for me because I was once in the shoes of the people that come into this store.
Before I ever came to the Roanoke Valley, my family and I lived in Pulaski County and one night when I was around the age of six, my home caught fire. This was devastating to our family at the time because we had just welcomed the new arrival of my second youngest sister. All of our belongings were either burned or damaged beyond repair from the smoke. A day or two after the fire, many of our family’s friends and relatives and even people we’d never met before were coming to us with helping hands and loving hearts. The Salvation Army was one of the many that came to our rescue. With the help and support of these wonderful people our family came out of this situation stronger than ever and we will always be grateful for this great gift that all of those people gave to us during that struggling time, the gift of hope.
When we got back from the store our group went to another part of the building and helped out with wrapping actual gifts for nursing home patients that did not have family or friends to spend the holidays with. This was fun for me because I love to wrap presents for others and it really felt good to know that these people would be excited to get a gift for Christmas and to bring a little holiday spirit to their homes.
At the end of this awesome Day of Caring, I knew that of all the great things that we had accomplished at the Salvation Army, there are still many more things that need to be done. Knowing this, I feel that students at Glenvar and any other Roanoke Valley school should consider having at least one week out of the year where the students can go and do volunteer work for the community like we did because it really makes a difference in the life of the students and the lives of the people that they have helped.
Third Place: Puja Padalia “Making Friends”
The first thing that comes to my mind about the Day of Caring is that it was a great experience. When I first signed up, I wanted to go to Greenvale School because I enjoy children. But the day they posted the sheets of where everyone would go I didn’t see my name on that sheet. I saw it on the sheet for Friendship Manor. I got real scared first of all because I thought, what if I can’t handle the people there and hurt their feelings, or not know what I am doing and do everything wrong, what will I do?
The day came; I was nervous. Once I got there a lady that worked there told us about the manor and about some of the residents that lived there. She told us something that made me even more scared. She told us they were having a Fall Festival and we will all help decorate outside and then take the residents down to it. We helped decorate, and then it was time to receive the residents.
Everyone got a single resident; I and my friend Jackie were the last ones. They assigned us the same person. He was a real cute man; he and his wife lived there in the apartments right beside the manor. When I first talked to them I felt so happy because they were happy when they saw us and we helped them down to the festival. We sat there, helped them get some food and talked; I felt so good helping them. After they were done we helped them back up to their room. Once we got there we sat there for at least twenty minutes and just talked. The lady was telling me and Jackie about her family and she also showed us some pictures. She also told us that their sixtieth anniversary was coming up on October 19; I was like wow. I couldn’t believe it. It was almost time for us to come back to school, and we had to leave. I didn’t want to go; I just wanted to sit there and talk to them. I felt so blessed for helping them and making them feel like they had someone to talk to. That was the best experience I could ever have, even though I was scared, in the end, I didn’t want to leave. I know why it is called Friendship Manor, because everyone becomes a new friend when you go there.
