Giving Back to the Community

Why I Volunteer

      When I was a little girl I joined the Girl Scouts. I like to think that my participation in Girl Scouts, all those years ago, is what shaped me into the adult I am today. I started volunteering at our local hospital when I was 12 years old, as a candy striper. Originally I began this volunteer experience as part of volunteer hours I needed to obtain an award from the Girl Scouts, and it was only supposed to be a few hours. I loved helping out at the hospital, and stayed until I graduated high school six years later. The nurses let me follow them on rounds, teaching me how to read the blood pressure cuffs, letting me take temperatures, and measure bodily fluids for charts. I fed the patients who couldn't feed themselves, bathed patients who couldn't bathe themselves, helped patients to the bathroom, or changed their bedpans when they couldn't get out of bed, and sometimes I just sat and visited with patients.

     My early years volunteering at the hospital revealed, to me, my love of helping people and that led to working with children. I was 16 years old when I was approached by the religious education teacher from my church to work with a little boy with special needs. She said none of the teachers wanted him in their classrooms, and she knew that I had the patience to work with him. This was also the year I started working towards another Girl Scout award and took on the job of assisting a new Brownie troop with their girls. I stayed with that Brownie troop for almost four years, long after I had earned my Girl Scout Gold Award. I also stayed with the religious education program, at my church, working with the special needs classes for ten years. Girl Scouts introduced me to giving back to my community, and it is something I have done ever since.

     As I a mother, I have tried to introduce to my children, the joys of volunteering in the community and giving back. We moved to the community we live in now, five years ago, to care for my father who had been diagnosed with Atypical Parkinsonism. I taught my children not to be afraid of his tubes and machines and to love him, like I did them, with lots of patience. I really believe that it was my experience as a hospital volunteer, as a Girl Scout, that allowed me to take such good care of my father. In the years since my father passed away, my youngest has joined Girl Scouts. I approached the local Girl Scout council to ask if I could volunteer as a troop leader and immediately started thinking of ways to give back to the community with the girls in the troop.  

     I am currently employed as a behavior therapist, and work with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. I took my first job as an ABA (applied behvavior analysis) therapist in 2001, with the St. Louis Special School District, and when I was interviewed I was asked why I wanted to make the switch from working with typically developing children to atypically developing children. I told my interviewer that I wanted to make a difference, and that I always had been a part of good days and every typical milestone for families, but that I wanted to be there for the miracle milestones for families that didn't have good days every day. I fell in love with working with these children, and with their families.
      Recently, I was invited to volunteer with position with Autism on the Seas. AotS provides cruise experiences with their own staff by accommodating passengers with special needs and their families with a typical cruise experience, plus gives them opportunities for special private functions and respite services. This is a chance for many families to experience a typical vacation that so many families take for granted. As a volunteer, I will serve as part of the staff on the cruises, assisting families and children and giving them great vacation memories.

    Volunteering and giving back to communities, be it the local community or the special needs community, is something I have always loved and I hope that I can spread that love of helping others to my own children and to the girls in scouts and every child I work with. I believe that there is no small act of kindness, only kindness and I think volunteering is a great way to show you care. 

You can learn more about both of these organizations by following their links below.