Volunteer Service

One of my volunteer services is offering nursing care to the elderly in an assisted living home in my neighborhood. I mainly volunteer by helping the elderly walk around the facility for their physical health. I also play chess with the elderly in the facility to help them cope with loneliness and boredom, especially for those not visited by their families. Volunteering at the facility has made me develop close connections with some of the residents in the facility. I also volunteer to give medication to patients, especially when nurses have tight schedules due to the high population of residents in the facility. I collaborate with nurses to ensure that I provide the proper medication to the patients at the right time. I developed an interest in taking care of the elderly after my experience taking care of my mother before we could get a good assisted living home for her. I was disappointed in the quality of care offered in most facilities and promised myself that I would use my free time to improve the care given to the elderly in assisted living homes around me. Since then, I have volunteered in five assisted living facilities. I often look for understaffed facilities looking for volunteers to help with the less technical tasks because they cannot afford to pay more workers.

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My second volunteer service is environmental management. Sikdar (15) categorizes environmental management services into cleaning and creating awareness of environmental care. I volunteer in tree planting activities by donating trees to be planted and volunteering to plant trees in different areas around the community. Last year, I volunteered to educate community members on the measures they can take to protect the environment. The education program was divided into three phases. The first phase included a two-week training program in high schools around the community on the importance of environmental preservation and our role in preserving the environment. The second phase included a campaign on tree planting and preserving indigenous trees. The third phase included educating community members on proper waste disposal techniques to prevent environmental pollution. I was actively involved in implementing the education program by training high school students in three high schools and donating five hundred tree seedlings for the tree planting program.

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I also volunteer to offer emotional support to the families of deceased veterans through a program that includes visiting them and donating funds to assist their widows whenever they need help. I volunteered to be the group's treasurer to manage all funds donated by other veterans and well-wishers. I mobilize the group members once in a while to visit the widows of veterans we have interacted with and encourage them to contribute whenever we need to raise funds to support the widows and their children. Some of the funds are used to pay for psychological services for widows who may be experiencing severe mental issues such as depression after the death of their husbands. I also volunteer to keep the group active by arranging team-building activities where we meet and interact.

 

Works Cited

Sikdar, Pradip K. Environmental Management: Issues and Concerns in Developing Countries. Springer Nature, 2021.