Community Service Personal Statement

I had no intention of becoming involved in community service. As a high school sophomore, I was required to complete five hours of volunteer work in order to join the National Honor Society. I cleaned and organized bookshelves at my local library, and that was that. Over the next year, I volunteered with school cleaning, dance set-up, and other events not out of graciousness or compassion, but solely to maintain my NHS membership. However, as a junior, a teacher nominated me for the United Way Youth Board of Baldwin County, Alabama. Youth Board, an organization designed to encourage volunteer work among adolescents, completely changed my perspective and fostered in me a passion for community service. With this organization, I was able to collect children's books, install free libraries around my community, organize a food bank, and raise both monetary support and awareness for the United Way. As well, it inspired me to start knitting preemie hats, become a lead volunteer at my local library, and
When we are given assets in life, we are also given a responsibility to use those same blessings for good. The famous Spiderman quote, "With great power comes great responsibility," comes to mind when I say this. Weather we are given health, money, intelligence, or talents, we have an obligation to turn around and use those blessings to bless others. Seeing the needs of other people through community service has revealed to me how blessed my life truly is. I have a loving family, plentiful friends, and a supportive church community, yet thousands of people do not even have their basic needs like food and shelter met. To have all of my assets and then to forsake those in need would be to betray all that is virtuous and right in the world. Community service is not a choice or just something that "good" people do, but it is, in fact, a responsibility that each of us