Volunteer Reflection Paper PDF

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Professor Linda Clark...

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Volunteer Reflection Paper David Holmquist FYE Making Connections/Intro to PE, MWF 10:00-10:50 Professor Hollie Huckabee

I volunteered at the Color Dash 5k, which was run by Jonesboro Parks and Recreation and benefited the Miracle League of Jonesboro, an organization that provides opportunities for children with disabilities to play baseball. The run was held at the Miracle League ballpark, and the course ran around the park, onto the road, and back towards the park. My group and I spent around three hours volunteering. My job was to point runners towards the correct path, and encourage them as they ran. As it turned out, no more than twenty to twenty-five of the participants actually ran the course. The majority of the participants walked, and some even jogged. I yelled encouragement to the participants and pointed out the directions. Most were focused on the run, or offered a quick “thank you”, or nod of acknowledgement. However, there was a portion of the participants who offered commentary on my work, like “Wow, thanks for the help. I totally didn’t see these obvious yellow arrows,” or “Seriously? Are you sure? I thought I should go the OTHER way.” Undeterred by the negativity of those few, I continued to give directions and support. After everyone had finished, the group and I gathered up all the course markers. I do not plan to volunteer again for this organization, although I would gladly do it again if I had another project that required

me to, as my experience was overall a good one. Actually, I’d like to run next year’s Color Dash! The project was very well planned and organized. Jarrod Stroud, of Jonesboro Parks and Recreation, headed up the run and was in charge either doing everything, or delegating someone to do everything. Mr. Stroud was a pleasure to work with and obviously had done this many times before. When I and the other volunteers arrived, he had a clear-cut plan for what he needed from each of us, and volunteers from other organizations were treated the same way. The most rewarding part of this volunteer project was actually walking past the Miracle League baseball parks, and watching the children playing as I walked to my station. I was proud to help raise money for an organization that empowered children with disabilities to do something that they otherwise could not. I was happy to think that my efforts, in some small part, made a run that raised hundreds of dollars possible. My favorite part was definitely encouraging the actual runners. As a former athlete, I have done more than my fair share of running. Seeing the runners at the front of the pack made me wish I was running with them! They were running for pride, and also for a good cause. However, my least favorite part was the sarcastic feedback from some of the walkers in the back. Not only was I disappointed that three out of four participants couldn’t even jog five kilometers, I didn’t appreciate the negative response to my encouragement and direction. I believe that the 2014 Color Dash 5k was a success! I can’t remember the exact number of participants, but since there were a few hundred participants, and each

person paid around forty dollars to run, the Miracle League benefited by a large sum of money! While I didn’t necessarily like waking up before the sun on a Saturday (Saturdays are for sleeping!), I enjoyed working with Jarrod Stroud and my volunteer group. The Miracle League is an incredibly cool project, and I’m sure that this fundraiser and others like it can only increase the number of disabled children that are impacted....