Cooper Ogden

On Friday, March 27th, I had the pleasure of volunteering at Willowdale Farms planting vegetables for the community. Willowdale Farms is a non-profit community farm that provides free vegetables to families and other individuals in need of food. It provides a healthier alternative to canned food drives, where the food being provided could be unhealthy, and is more conducive to their message of truly wanting to help people thrive. The main service opportunity the organization offers is the planting, watering, and upkeep of crops in their farm area. I was unable to do every task due to time constraints, but I was able to get quite a lot accomplished.
When I first got there, I was very warmly welcomed by the staff, and the person who was charge of the volunteers was very kind and genuine. She gathered all of the volunteers into a group and explained the different tasks that we were going to assist the farm with. After we completed our position of the work, we were encouraged to help out other volunteers and help in a different area then you were placed. I started out by unweeding a section of cabbage plants using a garden hoe, shaking certain areas of dirt off the weeds, and then placing them in a wheelbarrow. After I completed that task, I went on to water that patch as well as various herbs that needed it. Then I finished off my volunteer time by helping place a weed barrier and rewrite stakes that were labeling the different sections of vegetables.
The environment of this volunteer opportunity was incredibly communicative, with the staff helping us every step of the way. All of the volunteers took their work seriously, and we worked in unity with each other, getting more work done than one could possibly do by themselves. Being sociable and caring, this kind of work greatly aligns with my PathwayU assessment. Collaboration was my leading workplace preference, and it was successfully fulfilled during my community service. One of my biggest goals for my future is to start a nonprofit, and this opportunity gave me a lot of faith in that future endeavor.
Overall, it was a blessing to be able to volunteer at Willowdale Farms because it gave me the chance to do something more for my community, and it gave me the chance to actually make a difference in someone's life. I recently saw a quote that said, “Small acts, when multiplied by millions, can transform the world.” Now I understand that I’m just one person, but that's where real change starts, with one person. Then, like a catalyst, the more good you do and the more people who do it, the better the world around you becomes. After this event, in the workforce and in business, I’m going to try to remain as ethically pure and philanthropic as I can. I also hope to attend more volunteer events in the future. The world can be a dark place, but when enough people work together, there will always be light at the end of the tunnel.