Service Reflection Paper

For my service learning project I volunteered my time at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day retreat and the Oregon Food Bank. By contributing to these service learning projects I now look at my own life differently. It taught me to appreciate everything I have in life. Up until this point of me sacrificing my time to serve, I took my life for granted, and lived everyday without paying close attention to what God has blessed me with. If I didn 't volunteer my time I would have lived the rest of my life without realizing how fortunate I am to have what I have. Through these two specific service learning events I learned that not everyone is as fortunate as I am. The reason behind this is because while at the Oregon Food Bank and packing food for the families that have unfortunate financial circumstances, my eyes were opened up to the realization of how blessed I really am. I began to reflect on my own family and the though about

People should go out of their way to make time for volunteer work because no matter what you are always helping someone out, even if you don 't see the recipient. It is important to help another human being because it is morally right. If your life is stable and doesn 't need too much attention, why not reach out to someone who wants to be in the same position as you? My beliefs and values were tested and altered through these experiences because at times, in the past, I didn 't want to volunteer. I sometimes made a terrible excuse to talk myself out of volunteering. I felt that I was only doing the service to receive required hours, and not for the goodness of completing an action. I began to ask myself, “How could it make me a better person.?” As time went on and I started to volunteer, I truly discovered the true meaning of volunteer service. Do it for yourself and it will have an impacting result on