Service Learning Experience Paper

I did my service learning project on the North Shore of Pittsburgh. I volunteered at Providence Family Support Center. At the center they focus on caring, strengthening and enriching families and lives. They provide inner city children between the ages of six weeks and 13 years a stimulating and engaging child care experience. They offer help for the entire family by incorporating their highly trained family development specialists along with daily volunteers so the families are able to build a solid foundation at home. At the Providence Family Support Center I volunteered an hour and a half of my time with 7 other girls. We spend our time there brightening the children’s day. Some played kickball, some colored, some built forts, and some played games. I played with two boys approximately 2-3 years old. They loved trying to play basketball but once they were about 3 baskets in and didn’t make one they began to become frustrated. I spoke to them in a calming, encouraging voice and helped them calm down. After that I helped them by using encouraging words as they start making the baskets with my help by lifting them up one by one and letting them throw the ball into the hoop. They became happy and were
ecstatic that they were able to now make a basket “all by their selves”. Something I also participated in at the Providence Family Support Center that was effective to me were two things.
The first was the comfort I offered to a 1 year old little girl who was unable to stop crying. The second was previously mentioned about how I could encourage the boys that they had the potential to succeed. The benefits I have gained from this service learning experience have been extremely beneficial to me as a freshmen in college. One of the things I learned from this is that many people need all sorts of different resources so that they can live day to day, along with that no matter how bad I think my day may be sometimes or how bad of a life I have that I really am not that bad off. I am forever grateful for the opportunity I was involved
in. In conclusion, I have discovered that this experience has really opened my eyes to understand the difficulty of families who live right here in Pittsburgh. We don’t have to travel the United States to find people in need, they live right here in our city. This has made me more understanding of those who don’t have all of the luxuries that are available to me. I am blessed to be in the situation I am, a daughter of loving parents, a student at La Roche College, a car to drive and food in my fridge. I couldn’t be more thankful for what I have.