Service Hours

Rachel VanOrman                                                                                                                              SPED 310                                                                                                                                           Service hours                                                                                                                                       April 6, 2015

During this semester I’ve done over four hours of service for children with special needs. The first place that I did service was for a benefit dinner show in Salt Lake City, Utah on February 19, 2015. I worked for two hours at the benefit to help raise money for a non-profit organization called “Kindness For the World.” This organization was raising money for a humanitarian trip to the country of Peru. The members of the organization were going to help to build, clean, and remodel schools for children in Peru. The event started at 6:00pm and ended at 10:00pm. I don’t count the first hour because we were just setting up the decorations and cooking at that time. During the last hour, everyone was cleaning up. I helped to raise money by giving temporary tattoos to everyone (child and adult) who attended the dinner benefit. I charged $1.00 per tattoo. I had a lot of fun doing this because it allowed me to work with the kids and to apply my artistic skills in a way that I never had used them before. Although I’m not counting the first and the last hours as service hours, I still did work hard to help decorate so that the benefit would look good. And I worked hard at the last hour to help pack up everything when the benefit was over. It made me feel really happy to be a part of a service project to help children (disabled and non-disabled) who don’t have as near as many or nice things in a foreign country. Thanks to the “Kindness For the World” organization, there are a lot of schools in Peru now that clean, safe, and healthy environments for kids to go to school. The members of the organization also provided the children with brand new backpacks that contained needed school supplies. My family and I  helped to put those backpacks together for the trip to Peru during the Christmas 2014 break before school started this year. I don’t count all the hours that it took to put those backpacks together as part of my service hours because I wasn’t in this class yet. But it still makes me happy to know that that was something else I did to help the children in Peru.

The next service project that I worked on this semester was a special needs St. Patrick’s Day dance at the Kirkham Building on March 20, 2015. I worked there for over an hour by helping to set up the decorations and to make the gym look nice for everyone who attended. Besides setting up the decorations, I also helped some of the special needs kids work on their arts and crafts. It was a lot of fun to see their faces light up as they cut out shapes and glue pieces together. A lot of the kids who came to this dance were not able to speak very clearly or do things by themselves. Doing arts and crafts is a fantastic way for them to learn how to express themselves and to exercise their talents. Not to mention that dancing is a great exercise for their physical bodies. I’m so glad that BYU-I has activities and opportunities for special needs kids that will build and strengthen their self esteem and talents. I enjoyed watching them have fun while dancing to the music and play games with each other. I always enjoy playing with kids and seeing them happy. As a future special education teacher, I look forward to seeing my students faces light up when they learn and accomplish something.

The last service project that I worked on this semester was the Special Needs Extravaganza on March 27, 2015. I worked there for over an hour to make the little theatre in the MC building look nice for everyone who would be attending this event. I helped to put the pictures and crafts up on the walls in neat order. We hung paper rockets by the door for everyone to see by tying strings to them letting them hang.  I also helped set up the food table neatly for people to come and have refreshments. I love that at this event, everyone (students and parents) get to come and see all of the art and talents that kids with special needs have worked on during this semester. To be able to express and share talents is such a great tool for building self esteem. This event is another great tool to show kids with special needs that they other people love them, support them, and want to see them succeed.