I Want To Be Homeless

Elizabeth Andrew once said “volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.” This is an interesting quote because, being a college student, I don 't always have the time to be able to help people. The problem with this is that I always want to—I want to make a difference in the lives of many people, even if they do not care or do not want the help. I personally feel that to be able to do that, I would have to make the time, not because I feel that I must, but because I want to. At first, it was difficult to find what I was going to be doing for my volunteer project and originally wanted to work with the elderly. I was going to work with a group, but it was hard to coordinate schedules. I knew that I wanted to work with …show more content…
What made this an interesting project was that we were able to help students to experience, so to speak, what it is like, or what it could be like to be homeless. In the article “Runaway Youths Often Homeless” by Tessa Melvin, studies have shown that “young males who lack education and training are deliberately putting themselves in jail and . . . nearly 100 percent of homeless teen-age women in the county become pregnant” (New York Times). Although this article was written in 1988, it shows how little society has changed in over two decades. Of course, there are several teenagers who are in homeless centers and some families are taking care of their pregnant daughters, but it doesn 't change the fact that not all families are suitable ones to grow up in. In the article “While Some Parents Volunteer Too Much, Others Feel Excluded,” Lashieka Hunter mentions that “research [shows] that regardless of a family 's income or socioeconomic background, family engagement in education is essential for student success and school improvement” (New York Times). This was an interesting article because it showed how much families must be involved with the child 's success. It can sometimes be hard to succeed if the child is homeless, however, and there is no one else to help …show more content…
I am glad that I was able to work this into my schedule because I had to for the honors class, especially since schools do not always require volunteering for their extra curricular programs. Even though I do not know these students all that well, I know that they struggle through life because everyone does. Students in high school do need to be helped and I was grateful for being given the opportunity to work with them. As was mentioned before, these students could change the future lives of others. I was also able to listen to a few of the other students ' reports and what kinds of places they volunteered at. Several of the students did other projects that did involve the homeless, where they were able to work with those who actually lived in homeless shelters. I believe that this project that Sierra and I did helped the community by showing that those who are in school and know that they do have more than those on the streets can make a difference. I am looking forward to being able to work with these students in future semesters because I know that they have potential to change the future. To me, volunteering is about making a difference that comes from the