Volunteering Personal Statement

As a child, I grew up with volunteering and helping others being an important aspect of my life. I have taken this strong background and woven it into how I live my life today and in any future goals I have. The biggest opportunity I have had with volunteering is becoming involved in an organization called Interact, a high school division of Rotary clubs. I have been an active member since my freshmen year and was honored to be elected as the 2015-2016 President. I am excited to have this chance to take my passion for helping others and spread it towards as many people possible. Going into my freshman year, I was excited to start new projects that helped others. When I learned of Interact, I was ecstatic! Our main focus has been helping international and local programs that work towards bettering our world. The first year I participated, we decided to hold a bean bag tournament. We worked alongside Rotary and school administration to learn the logistics that would be needed to put on this type of event. After a lot of hard work throughout the organization, we held our first of many bean bag tournaments! These soon became annual events that I am sure will continue in our

We have a long relationship with our community homeless shelter, HALO. My favorite program that we take part in is adopting a room through HALO. Towards the end of the year, we take any leftover funds set aside for school activities that we did not use that year and choose a program to help out. This program consists of our group purchasing paint, bedding, and toiletries that are used in HALO's shelter. We typically receive a room that houses eight men that are looking for a second chance. On a day that they are all our, a group of Interact members scrub their room, floor to ceiling, repaint, and lay the new bedding with the toiletries. The men then later return, extremely surprised, thrilled and so thankful for what we have