National Volunteer Week and Global Youth Service Day

Oops...I wrote this a week ago and it didn't post! Here it is.. :)

Last week, April 15-21, 2012, was National Volunteer Week!  Points of Light and Hands on Network celebrates People in Action for an entire week once a year. 

Global Youth Service Day was April 20-22! Here are some statistics about this year's GYSD:
Total Projects Registered: 3,021
Total U.S. Projects: 2,443
Total International Projects: 578
Countries Participating: 100
U.S. States Participating: 50

How did you get involved during National Volunteer Week and Global Youth Service Day?

I volunteered at Girls Inc. on Thursday afternoon.  It was great to spend time with Alisha and her friends after school! 

On Friday evening, I did something a little different.  I attended the Meelia Center for Community Engagement's Appreciation Dinner.  I am currently employed at the Meelia Center at Saint Anselm College where I am an Office and Service Events Assistant.  Working at the Meelia Center has been one of the most meaningful things that I have ever been involved in.  I am so happy to be a part of the center that mobilizes students to action!

At the Appreciation Dinner, I had some time to really reflect on what service means to me.  Hearing speeches made by graduating seniors and community members was evidence to what service can do to a person.  This reinforced my belief that every single person has the power to make a positive impact on the lives of others. 

I am so grateful to have found my passion for service.  I am proud to be able to share my belief that everyone can make an impact on someone else's life, no matter how big or small that impact is.  

"There is a desire within each of us, in the deep center of ourselves that we call our heart. We were born with it, it is never completely satisfied, and it never dies. We are often unaware of it, but it is always awake. It is the human desire for love. Every person in this earth yearns to love, to be loved, to know love. Our true identity, our reason for being, is to be found in this desire…

Love is the ‘why’ of life: why we are functioning at all, what we want to be efficient for… I am convinced it [love] is the fundamental energy of the human spirit, the fuel on which we run, the wellspring of our vitality. And grace, which is the flowing, creative activity of love itself, is what makes all goodness possible.

Love should come first; it should be the beginning of and the reason for everything."

-Gerald G. May

-Kendall