Autumn Taylor

This experience was something like a field day for families in the community. There were activity stations, food, bouncy houses, and ice cream. This experience helped me improved my skills in small talk, meeting lots of different people allowed me to have lots of different types of conversations and navigating how to keep up conversation. This experience showed me how important it is for events like this to be held for kids. There were free books being given away and there were so many kids that took some and so excited to read which is very important. Allowing kids who love to read to have access to books is amazing. During this service I was at an activity station at which I and another student were in charge of and I gained a connection with her. As a fellow student in need of volunteer hours we had much in common. My service contributed to the mission of this organization by playing a part in the kids and families having a good time and the activities being organized. One challange I had was getting kids to come to our table because of the bouncy houses we had some big competition for their attention we had a few kids come over but for the most part they wanted to go play in the bounce houses.

This experience was valuable in the fact that I was able to help people in need. We bagged and gave out food to those who came to the mobile food pantry. I improved my conversation skills by talking to lots of different people with different experiences. This service made me more aware of the food insecurities in Memphis. I also learned that there are more companies than I thought that helped contribute. Target provided different kinds of things like gardening starters, pillows, candy, chips, and other goodies and sometimes Chikfila will come out and bring food to give out as well. I worked as part of a team, we were split into two groups one was packaing the food and the other was taking down everyones information. I was part of the group taking down information, we would get their name, address and number of people in the household so that we could make sure they got the right amount of boxes. I do plan to continue to volunteer for this organization they have helped so many people and while they only have 30 employees they have impacted so many lives and continue to do so. They not only have a food pantry but also a clothing drive and provide breakfast and a place to shower for those who need it. As far as challanges I faced there were some people who did not have the information cards to get their boxes so I had to fill out their paperwork in order for them to recieve their boxes and get a card for the future. In order to fill out the cards they have to have a tennessee ID and some people came without cards or IDs so they had to be turned away. But overall this was a great volunteering experience and the mission of this organizaition is one that aligns with me.

During this volunteering experience I improved my teamwork skills. I worked with others to clean the plant beds by pulling weeds, cleaning up the trash, and planting new vegetables. I also improved my gardening skills by learning to use different tools. This service made me more aware of the food disparities in Memphis. This experience made me realize how important places like this are. Not only providing food for people but fresh food grown from a garden makes a difference and is so needed in the community. I got to know some of my fellow emerging leaders better and talked to people I had not seen in a while. I also met some new people who also go to University of Memphis. We worked together as a team to clean up the plant beds. My service contributed to the mission of this organization by cleaning up all the overgrown weeds and trash that had piled up allowing for a fresh start for the garden. As far as challenges faces I have planted plants before however I never really used any tools so that was new for me. Also in our bed that we were cleaning a tree had managed to grow so it took all of us to dig and pull out the tree so that there would be room for the new vegetables.

During this volunteering experience I improved my teamwork skills. I worked with others to clean the plant beds by pulling weeds, cleaning up the trash, and planting new vegetables. I also improved my gardening skills by learning to use different tools. This service made me more aware of the food disparities in Memphis. This experience made me realize how important places like this are. Not only providing food for people but fresh food grown from a garden makes a difference and is so needed in the community. I got to know some of my fellow emerging leaders better and talked to people I had not seen in a while. I also met some new people who also go to University of Memphis. We worked together as a team to clean up the plant beds. My service contributed to the mission of this organization by cleaning up all the overgrown weeds and trash that had piled up allowing for a fresh start for the garden. As far as challenges faces I have planted plants before however I never really used any tools so that was new for me. Also in our bed that we were cleaning a tree had managed to grow so it took all of us to dig and pull out the tree so that there would be room for the new vegetables.

This experience showed me all that goes in to gardening and gardening for a community. Not only just the gardening aspect but the community aspect as well it brings people together. There were kids that came that live close to the garden and they helped and seemed to really enjoy themselves. I learned that this garden really means something to the community it serves and it means something to the kids that come every weekend. I worked as part of a team when it came to pulling weeds. However, I worked by myself when I was cleaning off bricks for the new beds that were going to be built. I had to clean the grass that had grown into the bricks and lay them out to be washed. This service contributed to the mission of the organization by helping them to keep up their community garden and helping to plant more vegetables. I think if there were anything that I would change about this experience it would be that I would bring my own gloves.

This experience allowed me to realize that helping people is something that really fulfills me and that I want to incorporate into my career. What I learned about the community I served is that they all stick together and help each other out. They have different houses throughout the neighborhood for the neighborhood youth like tutoring houses and houses for arts and crafts. They also have a community garden and seeing how they truly care for the people in this community was really nice to see. I worked as part of a team the goal was to get all the sides for the turkeys in bags in time. We had 200 bags to fill and only an hour to fill them so we did an assembly line and everyone pitched in and while we did that others were setting up for when everyone got there. Working as a team was really nice and also effective, we got everything done in time and were able to help with handing out turkeys and checking people in. This service was about the people and ensuring that everyone had a thanksgiving dinner and that is what this organization does, they help in any way they can and try to go above and beyond for their community. The only real challenges at this event were the time crunches and trying to get everything out in time but everyone was really great so it wasn’t too bad and also trying to take down the tents because I had never done that before but I figured it out eventually.

How did this experience challenge your problem-solving abilities? During this experience I had to change the trashes along the path some of which were chained to posts without bags in them so I had to figure out how to get the trash back into a trash bag.
How did your service influence your understanding of social or environmental issues? My service made me realize that the greenline and other organizations like it are volunteer based and made me realize how much actually goes into maintaining spaces like this and how people can take advantage by leaving trash outside the trashcans and things like that.
Did you work individually or part of a team, and how did that impact your experience?
I worked as part of a team some of us were working on the brush that needed to be cut back, while I and 2 other people worked on getting up the trash and this made my experience better as we were able to work efficiently.
How did your service contribute to the mission or goals of the organization?
By helping with cleaning up the path the greenline is now more aesthetically pleasing for those who walk, run, and bike along it and also helping the environment by cleaning up any litter that people left on the ground.
Did your service align with your personal values or beliefs? Yes, I think the environment is something that we need to be taking better care of so by cleaning up what I did I think that made a difference.

During this experience I improved my communication and artistic skills. Working with face paint and kids who don’t really know what they want was a challenge. I learned to give clearer instructions and to be patient. I learned about how supportive this community is, everyone coming together to make sure that those who participated had a good time showed me how much spaces like this are valued. I worked as part of a team at the face painting station and it definitely was best that way. We were able to help each other when we needed and because none of us had face painted before we all just picked something we could do and went from there. My service contributed to the mission by helping create a fun and enjoyable day for everyone who came. People were able to express themselves with their face paint and it helped them feel celebrated which was the goal. One challenge was working with people who couldn’t find something that they liked but I was able to show them options of things on my phone eventually they found something they liked.