Fred says” Smile”

In our LDR 100  class we, as LAS scholars were required to do a Fred project. I know you’re probably wondering who/ what is a Fred? A Fred  is someone who goes out of their way to make a difference in the lives of others. Fred was a mailman who would go out of his way to do things to help the people he would deliver the mail to.In our class were assigned a project, to embody Fred in a project.

Our group decided to create smile faces and write inspirational things about how important it is to smile on the back of them. We handed them out across north campus. The people that got a smile really enjoyed them. They wanted to know why we were doing that, we told them that it was for a project, and they thought it was cool. But I like to think what there reaction would have been if we told them that we were doing it just because. That’s what a Fred is someone who tries to make everyone’s day better by just their presence, and helping them.

The four principles of a Fred are:

1.) Everyone makes a difference

2.)  Success is built on relationship

                               3.) You must continually create values for others, and it doesn’t have to cost a penny

4.) You can reinvent yourself regularly

I really enjoyed handing out smiles to everyone. I would do this again just to make people’s day. Through this project I learned that you don’t need a lot, nor do you need to do a lot to make someone smile. I want to strive to make people smile everyday.

Smile everyday!!!!

Mobile Food Pantry

On Saturday October 12th, I volunteered with other residence from Barnes hall at the mobile food pantry at the local church that is right off of campus. I volunteered for a total of 3 hours. My job while volunteering was to unload food from a truck, and then sort it by what type of food it is. After we sorted the food,  people came through and picked out what they needed.

It felt really good to help out the church, especially providing for the people in the community. I really enjoyed giving back to the community, it was such a great feeling. I’m going to continue too help out with the mobile food pantries in Mount Pleasant.

DisAbility Awarness Expo

On October Saturday 12th, I volunteered at the Disability Awareness Expo. This is an event where accommodations for students of all ages are displayed, and students can learn more about the options that are available to them.  The expo was held on Central’s campus, in the Education building.

I volunteered with them for 3 and a half hour. My duty was to walk around and ask the vendors if there was anything that they needed. After I did that I helped out in the Kiddie Corner/ Accommodation center. This workshop was setup in the child development learning lab in the EHS building. In this workshop we were making projects that accommodated kids with any disability. It was really fun to work with the children that came through to make crafts.

This volunteer experience was very important to me because I got to help children and their parents. It really made me think about life in a different perspective. I talked to a mother of two deaf children. And she shared the experience of finding out that her daughter was deaf, and that he would never hear her grandmother sing. It was very emotional thing to hear, and for her to talk about. She now helps families deal with similar situations. “You expect one thing, but you get something else.”  This was something she mentioned in our conversation. You can apply this to any life situations, regardless of how little or big. That was a great life lesson that I learned from my volunteer experience.

After volunteering at this event, I will be able to look at the different perspectives of people with disabilities. They can do almost everything that anyone else can do; at ties they just need a little help. Learning this was something that I will remember and apply to my life forever.