Cianne Zion

I had a great experience getting to serve brunch to my local community. We served everyone a hot breakfast as well as donuts and drinks and helped the kitchen staff get the food to everyone. We also helped a local church who was donating a lot of food bring everything in and then help the kitchen staff organize the food. Overall, it was a great experience getting to help both the local community and the staff my spending my morning serving.

I had a great time getting to work with others to serve my local community. I enjoyed interacting with the children and working with other serving members to make plates for everyone. It was a great experience overall.

I had an amazing experience getting to clean the gym and help my local community! This organization was preparing for a large anniversary and I am glad I got to be a part of the process!

During this event, we were given a presentation on the Dorothy House and learned about the unhoused population of Memphis, along with how this community was working to fight homelessness in the city. I am very grateful to be a part of a community filled with love and willing to help those who are not as fortunate. After listening to a presentation, we were paired with groups of students who either made blankets or care kits to distribute at the Dorothy House. I am extremely grateful that I was able to experience this event and know that me volunteering would help my community.

During this experience, I had the opportunity to learn more about Room in the Inn and their mission, while also being a welcoming face to those that entered the shelter. I try to serve my community in all ways through Christ, and this shelter helped me achieve that goal. While learning about how the shelter came to be and hearing many individuals stories, I also learned to operate their computer and phone system to manage the front desk. I was able to be an extra set of hands for the employees to focus on the individuals living in the shelter. I took many phone calls, some inquiring about the shelter while others asked about volunteering. I also talked to those that entered the building. I am very grateful that I was able to experience a welcoming environment that serves the Lord and helps the community of Memphis.

The Service on Saturday volunteering at the pumpkin patch was an amazing opportunity to work hands on with families around Memphis. I was able to collaborate with other students and volunteers of all ages, as well as make connections with parents and families. This opportunity gave me the skills to communicate with those of all ages. I worked along side retirees to set up and prepare for the event, and connected with children as young as toddlers. Throughout the event I was stationed at the tattoo table. My duties were to help children find the tattoo they wanted, and also to make their experience enjoyable. I helped direct families throughout the pumpkin patch to ensure their experience went smoothly. I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to volunteer for my local community.
Throughout this experience I was able to truly connect with families and was able to build my communication skills by not only talking to children, but also interacting with their parents.
During this experience, we faced minor setbacks. To begin, when setting up for the event, we realized we did not have fall themed tattoos for the children. The other volunteers and I worked together to sort through the box of tattoos and separate the girl and boy ones, and find the ones most relevant to the season. After this, the wind picked up and we had to find a way to keep our equipment from blowing away.
We had one volunteer find plastic to cover the tattoos, while another used the paper towels to hold down our table mat. Although these were only minor inconveniences, we were all able to work together to help the children have a fun and exciting day at the pumpkin patch. This was an overall great experience that was very rewarding to both me and the community.

The opportunity to serve my community by creating an accessible area for everyone to take their dogs to the park was a very fulfilling opportunity. Upon arriving, I was greeted with by those in charge of the project, as well as others who were working on the park. We were first only expected to move the mulch throughout the dog park as a large excvator was moving the mulch in to the park.
After about twent minutes, the excavator broke and we had to change course and go about the project in a different way. The people over the project brought wheel barrows and shovels and we created a system in which each person had a task. To get the job done, three people were shoveling mulch into wheel barrows, about four to five individuals were wheeling the mulch into the dog park, and about six people were in the dog park spreading this mulch.
Although we experienced an unforseen circumstance during this project, with teamwork and communication, we were able to succesfully revamp the dog park to not only make it wheelchair accessible, but also a safer area for dogs to roam.
Throughout this service project, I was able to connect with many individuals from the Memphis area. There was a medical student who was there to obtain service hours, a retired woman who simply cared about her local neighborhood, a mother and daughter who chose to bond over a service project, and even other University of Memphis students. Everyone was very friendly and we all were able to share a little bit about ourselves while working.
This service project was slightly intensive, but I enjoyed getting the opportunity to see the work I was doing help others. I was able to build in my teamwork and communication skills, as well as meet many other local people from Memphis.