The Cherry on Top

 

It has been my delight to serve my community this semester, building on old friendships and growing new ones. This video hardly does justice to what I have experienced this semester or what I have learned from our speakers. I look forward to growing on their words in the coming years as I encounter new situations that call me to dig deep and find the lessons I learned way back as a sophomore and apply them. I have found joy in the things I've been involved in this semester as well as disappointment in other aspects that have fallen through.

As for my platform for coming service, I would like to serve children. I want to both alleviate those children who find themselves in distress as well as serve others in preventative ways so that they can thrive and live their live to meet their full potential. I will continue to work with Little Dresses for Africa, and on the YUDA Bands project in the future as well as devote time to other worthy causes such as Big Brothers, Big Sisters, West Side kids Club and perhaps The Healing Place. I would like to place a particular emphasis on service that promotes educational success for children as I feel it is a vital part of a child's ultimate prosperity. I also believe that I am especially able to be of help to my community in this area because I enjoy teaching. I hope that this platform will serve as an outlet for the service I hope will be suit my passion.

The Close of a Semester of Service

This weekend, I will be doing one of my last service projects for this semester. I am going to be teaching how to sew Little Dresses for Africa to a group in Huntsville called Sew Crafty. I will also be telling them about what the organization does with the dresses and my experience in giving them away in the Dominican Republic.

It occurs to me that I have not mentioned on the blog how I became involved with Little Dresses for Africa. It all began last year at Christmas time. My mother asked me to be in charge of finding a gift that our family could give to Jesus for His birthday. I began searching for something we could do with all of the cousins and grandparents when they came down for Christmas.  I had heard about the little dresses project but knew nothing about it, so I Googled it to find out if it might be a possibility for our Savior’s gift. I read about it on the website, got a pattern and watched youtube videos on how to make the dresses. My mom was all in favor of the project and we started getting excited. When the family got there, the request was made of the male relatives to provide the funds for the project. They were all quite willing. Then all 8 of the females loaded up in the car to go to the craft store for supplies. We brainstormed ideas for decorating and trimming our dresses on the way to Hobby Lobby. When we returned home everyone got to work. By the end of their stay we had completed 10 adorable dresses of varying sizes. I however was not fulfilled; my heart was prompted to keep sewing just a few more so that I would have a couple to take with us on our church mission trip in the summer. And this is when God took over and the project began to grow. I started asking my friends who sew if they would be interested in helping me sew a few dresses with their scrap material from other projects. The whole time I was praying that God would simply provide enough dresses for the little girls we would encounter on the trip. I was in no way prepared for the amount of dresses He would provide through my community for His precious children. I asked my grandmother to help; she ended up bringing her sewing group into the project and they  made over 50 dresses! I asked a friend who was part of a church sewing group and she along with her team gave almost 40 dresses. I myself made 30 dresses. I taught girls from a local high school to make the dresses and they donated several. It seemed that there was constantly someone calling me to ask when they could meet with me to give me dresses they had made. Interviewers form the newspaper even came to my church to ask me about the project. Dresses were coming in so fast I didn’t even try to keep count of them all. We ended up with more than 200 dresses, and let me tell you, I had nothing to do with it. God made the project soar. And this is how I got involved. I felt a great passion then and still do now for not only providing the girls with a suitable outfit to wear but also with a garment that was made specifically for them. It is important to me that the girls feel uniquely loved when they wear their dresses just as I hope they learn to feel when they learn to know Christ Jesus. I hope that the dresses serve as an example to them of how Christ's love is uniqe to each of us. This is why I feel compelled to not just pass a pattern around but to teach and tell about the girls so that others will think of them as real and human.

Our speaker this Monday was a bit different than the others. He talked mainly about the financial side of civic engagement. He emphasized the importance of giving from what you make from the very beginning. If you give some from the very start, you will never notice that you miss it. Whereas if you get used to spending all your money on yourself it will hurt more to give it up. I think the main thing I learned from this speaker was that giving of your money is one more way that you give of yourself because to earn money you must work so in working you are not merely working for your own good but for the good of others. He also pointed out something else that the other speakers have not touched on. He mentioned that the best way to begin civic service is form a place of strength. Dr. Morris said, “It is easier to pull someone up from a position of strength than to try and push them up from the bottom.” He suggested that we get ourselves right before trying to help others. I think this is valuable advice. I know that it is true for me. If my heart isn’t in the right place my work is worth less than half of what it could be. Also if my mind is not wholly engaged I don’ t do as well either.  

A Lesson in Humility and Service

I was blown away by the humility I felt in our speaker tonight. Tom Osborne was very humble in telling us about what God has called him to do in his life. The whole time Dr.Osborne was speaking, I wanted him to speak openly about how God was at work in what he was doing; I felt like he was trying to hold back in that regard. Perhaps, he was merely letting his actions an acclimations of motivation speak for his faith. Regardless, I feel great respect for Dr.Osborne and what he does. He spoke to us about his work as a Deacon and servant of Christ Jesus. His job as a Deacon is to serve the poor and needy. He also says that this was Jesus’ command to believers to do in the book of Matthew; he takes this command seriously and literally. Dr. Osborne feels that it is by serving the Heavenly Master through serving others that we find true joy and that in giving and serving we are always the receiver. Dr. Osborne is active in prison ministry in the area. He works with a program that takes a weekend to teach inmates about the love of God. He says that the most powerful thing in helping to heal the prisoners is the love that the volunteers form the churches give without restraint. Love is a very powerful tool. To give love to someone is a surrender of self and to receive love is like nothing else a person can experience in life. We as human beings crave it and desire to invest our love in others as well. I think it is a wonderful thing that Dr. Osborne is brave enough to heed the calling of Christ and give love to men who the world deems unworthy of love. In daring to do this he also receives the blessings that are the fruit of his labor. He describes the return he gets simply as joy.

The joy that Dr.Osborne was speaking to us about is not the casual joy that companies print on Christmas decorations and it doesn’t mean the same thing as happiness either. The joy the doctor was talking about is not something that can be had without passion. It’s extra special. To me joy comes from knowing that what you do has meaning and purpose beyond yourself. It’s something you carry around even on rainy days to keep your heart alive. It comes from knowing that I serve a God who has a bigger plan and it is absolutely my privilege to get the chance to help him in the small way that He has given me. Joy is when my little sister tells me that God is changing her heart. Joy is when a friend casually mentions, while we are out running, that the trees are God’s creation and are therefore beautiful and we humans had absolutely nothing to do with it. Joy is warm and it laughs. It bubbles up in the wells of your heart and tickles you as it pours out. We pour it out when we give it away to others so they can experience it too.

The 5K for March of Dimes went well this weekend. We raised nearly one thousand dollars to help premature babies and to educate mothers on how to prevent premature birth. It was fun to help out and be a team member for the race. As always, I enjoyed the fellowship that came with the service. I got to know several members of Circle K even better and got some advice form an older student.

Good Things to Report!

Lauren and I with our finished dresses

I have so much praise to post for you all! Last night was the Fashion Forum Little Dresses for Africa sewing night. The first wonderful thing was that we had 14 girls helping with the project at various times throughout the night. We started at 7:00 (I got there early to set up) and didn’t end until 10:15. I and two other girls were there the whole time and the others came and went as they had time. We had a wonderful time talking and sewing. Teaching was easy because most of the girls who came had some experience with sewing. There were a few that had a little trouble, but I don’t think anyone was overwhelmed. I was a little nervous about trying to teach others to use the sewing lab’s Janomi sewing machines because I myself had never used that brand before.( I am a Singer girl.) However, the machines turned out to be easy to use and VERY nice. I think I could convert to using Janomis except they tend to run a bit above my price range. The machines were very smooth and quiet; it was a treat to get the privilege of using them! I was a little disappointed with the mentality of some of the girls as we were sewing. They were not doing their best work and they kept saying stuff like, “They’ll just be happy with whatever they get,” and “Well, it’s good enough.” In my opinion, this is an inconsiderate way to look at the situation. I do not think that the girls realize that the dresses that we and people like us send may be the only clothing a child owns. If you understand the magnitude of this would you make the garment, “Just good enough” or would you do your best to make it durable and beautiful? I hope that the girls that wear the dresses I have made feel beautiful, loved and cared about when they wear their dress. Another thing that bothered me a little was the fact that as we were sewing, some of the girls present were complaining about not having the iphone 5. Does this strike you as ironic? We are sewing dresses for children WHO DO NOT HAVE CLOTHES and you can even think about having the iphone 5!!!? (by the way, they had the iphone 4 currently.) This makes me again question where their hearts were in this project. Aside from these two small issues the night was a great success! I am excited to announce that we not only met our goal but exceeded it. We made more than 30 dresses! That is quite an accomplishment for 14 girls in three and a half hours! I feel so good about what we have done and I am sorry for the girls who don’t understand what they are doing and the impact that the dresses will have on the children who receive them. I have had the privilege of giving the dresses away personally. I remember the little girls who received the dresses I took to the Dominican Republic and I hope that the girls who receive these dresses are just as sweet and thankful.  I feel as though I have giving the dresses away to friends even though I don’t know who will receive them. I love the children who will wear the dresses we made for them and hope that love can be felt by them through every stich of their garment!

Girls at the cutting table preping thier fabric for sewing

These two dresses turned out to be some of my favorites!

The 5K race for March of Dimes is this weekend. Sadly, my little sister will not be able to come and volunteer with me as we originally thought L. She is ill with a fever and can’t come. Sad day. I guess I will just work twice as hard to make up for it. She is very disappointed that she can’t come (and me too!). I will give and update on the race after this weekend!

Our speaker for the week was from the Florence Rotary Club. I really liked what he said about evaluating what you hear and read in order to know if you accept it. He gave us four questions to ask ourselves. 1. Is it truth? 2. Is it fair to all concerned? 3. Will it build good will and better friendships? 4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned? This can be applied to broad things and personal policies, but I also think that these evaluations can be useful in the little things. For example what I say to my roommate or teacher, what action I take when I witness someone cheating on a test and so on. Thinking about the affect of our actions and even the things we say is so important.

Prematurity Awareness Month

This week our speaker for forum canceled on us. While this cancellation was for legitimate reasons concerning the speakers involvement with the organization she was going to speak to us about had she been there, it was still frustrating that she could not fulfill the commitment she made to our class. This fact led to a discussion on why people in leadership positions in nonprofit organizations sometimes walk away. We discussed the fact that nonprofit work sounds like wonderful fun and like “a great thing to do” and yet when the rubber hits the road it is indeed very hard work. There is also the issue of low pay to accompany this difficult work. Factored together, this equals a weak attachment between worker and job, unless that person has an attachment to the work itself. This in my opinion is the distinction. The person who loves the work they do versus the person who loves to have a job. Jobs are stress, late nights and time away from your family. You never hear anyone say it’s a “Job of love”. Jobs imply that there is a paycheck at the end of the week to look forward to. However to love your work is a different thing. People often say that things are a “Labor of love.” We will happily commit our time and effort to doing something that our heart is all in for. This doesn’t mean that on certain days the work you love is not discouraging or monotonous, but it does mean that you can make it through the yucky days because you love the good days so much. I hope that this is what teaching will be for me. Not just a paycheck but something that I love and feel accomplished for doing. I want it to be an opportunity to love the kids in my class and invest in them. I think that’s another thing that binds you to a work, your investment in it.

Tuesday night, I had a meeting with the Fashion Forum girls about our Little Dresses project. I brought some of the example that I have made as well as some of the raw supplies so the girls could know what to buy if they wanted to donate supplies. Here is the exciting part, the ladies set a goal as to how many dresses they want to make on our sewing night. Drum roll please…….. They say they want to commit to making 24 dresses! That may not sound like a lot but it truly is especially when you consider that even a very simple dress can take an hour to sew. I am so happy that they’ve set the bar high. Now, let’s just hope we can keep the promise!

I am helping with the 5K race for Circle K International on November 17^th and am very excited because we have almost 40 people signed to run! I am also very enthusiastic that my little sister is going to volunteer with me for this event! She’s a little young, but I have worked it out with the club president and everything is a go. It will be so much fun to do a race to benefit premature babies and even more meaningful to my sister who was a very premature baby and benefited from events such as this one when she was born. Here is a link to March of Dimes website about prematurity day: https://www.marchofdimes.com/washington/events/events_10006.html# In honor of premature birth awareness month I have posted this video from March of Dimes on the topic.

 

Learning from the Experienced

I have many new experiences to report this week on the blog. First of all, I thoroughly enjoyed helping to put on the Life Without Limits Half Marathon. I was so impressed that so many people can run a half marathon. About 550 people signed up to run and the proceeds from their registration go to United Cerebral Palsy. It was also an opportunity to grow in my friendships with other honors students who were the volunteering. We had fun doing stuff like hanging up medals, sorting trophies, and matching runners’ bibs with t-shirt sizes and types.

On Saturday I had the privilege of going to Michell Hollingsworth to do reverse trick or treating with the residents there. My favorite person I got to meet was a lady named Ruebble. She had an interesting story to tell about her name. Her daddy was in the WWII as a young teenager. While he was overseas, he heard the name Ruebble many times and he decided that if he made it through the war and had a little girl, he would name her Ruebble. Then she proudly pronounced, “And that’s me!”

I am looking forward to two teaching opportunities that are on the horizon. Iwill have the opportunity to teach how to sew little dresses for Africa both here at UNA through the RSO Fashion Forum and in my home town Huntsville through a group called Sew Crafty”.  I will be teaching at UNA on November the 15^th and at Sew Crafty on the 7^th of December. Preparations are going well for both so far. Here is an excellent video I am going to show when teaching about the dresses.

 

The speaker this week at forum was beneficial to me. I really enjoyed his youthful perspective on the topic of civic engagement. While many of the other speakers at forum have held leadership positions within their leadership organizations, Mr. Dean reminded me that the general members of these groups are also important, hold valuable roles and make an impact. He shows genuine care for his home community by the things he supports, the committees he is on and the place he chooses to invest his work time. The thing that I appreciated the most about what Bradley Dean had to tell us was that, civic engagement is an opportunity for young people to learn from those who have more experience than we do. I love this! It is so very true; being a good follower of a great leader is an important skill. It is what gives you the ability to someday be that great leader for someone else.

Prepwork for Service

I had such a good time this weekend working on the Little Dresses for Africa project! I prepared to help demonstrate how to make the dresses at Fashion Forum’s November event. My friend Carley Beth and I made a dress together that I will be using to show the girls at the forum what the end product will look like. It will also be useful to use the demo dress when trying to explain how to do certain steps on the night of the project. We also got together five dress kits that I will be bringing for the Forum to work with. While I feel wonderful about what we did for the little girls who will be receiving the dresses eventually, this weekend to me was especially wonderful because I got to serve with my friend and in serving together we got to grow our friendship in a special way. Service fosters a special sort of irreplaceable environment for the growth of friendships that will last. I think this is so because you feel as though the person you worked with was part of making a lasting impact on the world or your community with you. You can get closer because you know that you have a similar vision to that person for a better tomorrow. I had so much fun talking to CB while we worked as well, it just made the whole project all the sweeter! I look forward to similar joy when working on the project with the girls from Fashion Forum in a few weeks!

 

Our speaker this week was from the Junior League. I was not all that impressed with what she had to offer from the organization. The organization had a neat history and I loved how it was started. I felt like despite all of the “change” the speaker talked about going on within the Junior League that it was still a somewhat antiquated organization that clings to petty regulations. I was surprised to learn that such an exclusive group still existed until very recently. I think that my generation can pride itself slightly on our ability to accept people of many ethnicities and backgrounds with little or no thought. Not to say that some bias will not always exist between groups in society. I was impressed with the amount of service hours dedicated by the women of the Jr. League. I was also impressed by the amount of commitment the women of the league give. The league appeared to be equivalent to a full time working position for the active members. So there were good and bad qualities to this organization. The thing I think I missed the most was the heart that many of the other speakers have brought concerning their charity. This woman was not actively working with the group anymore and was so detached that she could hardly remember to pay her club dues. I believe that whatever you do you should put your whole heart into it or not do it at all.