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Becoming More Giving


‘Tis the season. The season when we stop to think about all that we are thankful for before transitioning into the season of giving. I would like to think I am both a thankful and giving person. However, upon taking some time to reflect today, I realized I am not neither as thankful nor as giving as I would like to be.

The last six weeks I have been guiding my 8th grade students through a service learning project in my Research class. The majority of my students are coming to me with stories of great experiences while volunteering their time. Many have spent more time at their community service than the three required hours. I, on the other hand, have done nothing. Some might count the time I spend tutoring my students as community service; I consider it as part of being a good teacher. While I have dropped a few bills into a panhandlers cup and donated to a local charity, that doesn’t warm my heart the way getting involved does.

For the last ten years or so, I have been talking about much I would like to work at a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving. Here we are close to Thanksgiving and I have done nothing about it. Tonight I went online and made a few phone calls to see where I might be needed, not only on Thanksgiving, but the rest of the week as well. I am too late. Many other people had the same thought and planned better than I. Even though all positions seem to be filled, I sent a few emails. 

The bigger challenge is to keep the gift of volunteering going well beyond the holidays. Last week I took one of my students to her community service site, a teen pregnancy support center. The woman who runs the program told me how they are in need of volunteers to do everything from administrative jobs to presenting workshops for the girls. She asked if I would be interested in presenting one. The idea has been rolling around in my head since she mentioned it. Unfortunately, I keep coming up blank, which bums me out because I really like working with teenagers. Monday, I will go to the local Boys and Girls Club to inquire about tutoring one day a week. However, I will not go alone. My girls will accompany me. (They don't know that yet, but I have no doubt they will find it as rewarding as I will.)
  
As for the thankful side of things, that will come later this week.

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