voluntEAR

Since my first day here I have really been looking forward to being able to volunteer at the Give Kids the World Village, a retreat area for families of children with life threatening illnesses. For DCP participants, there are scheduled volunteer opportunities every Sunday and Wednesday nights. I usually work nights but last Wednesday I worked in the morning so I was finally able to go!

Lisa and I signed up together and were both really excited to go! We met at the Commons and after a little bit of a mix up (the housing team thought we wanted to sign up for the next Wednesday) we were in the van and on our way in our snazzy new t-shirts.

Like our Mickey "gang" sign?!

Wednesday nights at the Village are "Kid's Night Out", a night where parents and children can get a break from each other and the children are paired with mentors to play and eat all night :) At first, there were more volunteers than there were children so Lisa and I helped set up dinner in the Gingerbread House. On our way back to meet with the rest of the group, we found another family who had children interested in joining us so we were paired with some children and officially had buddies!!

The night was amazing. The services that they provide at Give Kids the World are wonderful and I was so happy to be a part of that team for the night. Unfortunately, for the next two weeks I work at night on Sundays and Wednesdays but I am planning on going through their orientation program so that I can volunteer on a more regular basis on days that I have off.

If being here on the program has taught me anything so far it is that my career needs to be in a field that allows me to provide experiences and services to families that will make a difference in their lives and create long-lasting memories that they will cherish.

xoxo,

Natasha