[Community-service] Skills Lead to Service

[Cheryl Fields]

This is a great article and I am glad you shared it. Ohio is planning
our state convention and I am forwarding this article to our President
and suggest we have a speaker from AmeriCorps.Blessings, Cheryl

On 8/9/16, Darian Smith via Community-Service
<community-service at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> I don’t really like sending stuff that has to do with myself because I kind
> of think it to be a bit arrogant.
>   Gary Wunder mentioned this article at our seminar and business meeting,
> and I was both surprised and honored that he did.
>  This was an article I wrote for the braille monitor a few years back and
> almost forgot that I had actually done so.
>   I hope you enjoy and I would love your thoughts of and relating to the
> article.
>   Here’s hoping for more than something relating to “ nice article” *smile*
>>
>> https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm12/bm1206/bm120606.html
>> <https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm12/bm1206/bm120606.html>
>>
>> Braille Monitor                                                 June 2012
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>> Skills Lead to Service
>>
>> by Darian Smith
>>
>> From the Editor: Darian Smith is one of the primary people working to form
>> a community service division in the National Federation of the Blind. He
>> believes that service can have a transformative effect on both those we
>> serve and members of the public who observe us providing it. Here is what
>> Darian says:
>>
>> Looking back on my time as a student at the Colorado Center for the Blind
>> (CCB), I realize that that experience has given me many precious memories,
>> a more positive attitude, and some valuable skills. I expected a lot when
>> I decided to attend the CCB, but never did I imagine that the staff would
>> expect so much of me. Never have I been challenged at such a basic level
>> to question my fundamental beliefs about blindness and to demonstrate
>> them, not only in the words I say but in the actions I take.
>>
>> After graduating from the CCB in April of 2004, I began to see just how
>> many doors might open for me if I dared to try walking through them. If I
>> was willing to try, my new attitudes and skills would not only let me do
>> something good but actually do something great--great for enhancing my
>> experience, great for strengthening my self-concept, and great for helping
>> the country I yearn to make a better place. These realizations came
>> quickly; the courage to implement them took longer to develop.
>>
>> In early 2008 I decided I would join the AmeriCorps program. AmeriCorps is
>> a government-funded network of service organizations and programs that
>> engage people from diverse backgrounds, ages, and abilities in community
>> service. Even before I attended the CCB as a fulltime student, my interest
>> was piqued when I attended a 2002 summer program and observed a group of
>> youth from the National Civilian Community Corps (an AmeriCorps program)
>> working on the Braille library and doing other work on and around the
>> building. Their friendliness and positive attitudes made such an
>> impression on me that I hoped someday to do something as noble and
>> inspirational to others as these volunteers were to me.
>>
>> After completing programs at the CCB and growing up a bit, I decided in
>> 2008 that I would take a good hard look at the AmeriCorps programs to see
>> if there was a place for me. I applied and was interviewed. I talked about
>> my background, my time as a student, the challenges I faced in learning to
>> deal with blindness, and the lessons I had learned about helping people. I
>> said that I thought AmeriCorps was the best way for me to turn my positive
>> intentions into tangible action, and within two months I was accepted to
>> serve.
>>
>> In October I reported to the Denver campus, and there I met many great
>> corps members, amazing team leaders, and an outstanding support staff. I
>> was the first blind person to serve on the campus, and I faced questions
>> about what a blind person could do. They ranged from the basic "How will
>> you find the bathroom" to "How will you handle your tray in a food line?"
>> Much of what I had to prove dealt with mobility: everyone thought I was
>> smart and admired my motivation, but could I really get around by myself,
>> and could I be competitive in situations where mobility was required?
>>
>> My team leader for most of the corps year was Keara, who was kind, caring,
>> patient, and socially aware. She also had a best friend who was blind,
>> which was why she was picked to be my team leader. The assumption that
>> someone with special experience or training would have to assist me turned
>> out to be a problem throughout my training and service, but I can't say
>> too much about Keara, her giving spirit, and her unflagging determination
>> to see that I participated fully.
>>
>> The first month of my ten-month term was devoted to training and team
>> building. This is the routine for all corps members. In the training the
>> team leader is the mentor, the disciplinarian, the coordinator, and the
>> coworker who helps trainees on projects. In late October my class was
>> inducted into the corps and went on to our first assignment. My team went
>> to Boulder, Colorado, to work on an environmental project pulling weeds,
>> working in irrigation ditches, and building and maintaining trails. This
>> was hard work but well worth it, given the skills we gained.
>>
>> My next assignment was in South Texas doing canvassing work. The team's
>> job was to help people get aid as a result of the damage they suffered
>> after hurricane Ike. The one thing that stands out for me is the Southern
>> hospitality the residents showed our team and their unwavering,
>> uncompromising spirit. Their generosity was nothing short of amazing; even
>> in their time of need they expressed real concern and a commitment to
>> helping their neighbors.
>>
>> My third project was by far the most boring. I was in Alabama doing
>> construction work, and, while members of my team climbed ladders and
>> carried materials, I too often found myself pulling nails out of boards.
>> Certainly this job needed doing, but it wasn't work that let me be very
>> creative or helped me to feel that I was part of a team building something
>> in which I could feel pride. The location of the assignment, an hour north
>> of Tuscaloosa, also made it difficult for me to find after-hours
>> activities. I spent a lot of time coordinating public relations and
>> outreach events for my team and personally getting ready for the national
>> convention.
>>
>> The highlights of this part of my tour were working on an old school
>> house, a nearly one-hundred-year-old structure we wanted to keep upright,
>> and trying to make it through the rain storms that followed after the
>> almost daily tornado warnings. In this part of my tour I applied for a
>> team leader position on one campus. This in turn led to four other
>> interviews. Unfortunately, I was not offered a position with any of the
>> campuses, but I was determined not to let this disappointment detract from
>> what I came to the corps to do.
>>
>> My final project was in Denver. I was selected to be a crew leader in a
>> Summer of Service program that engages at-risk youth in community service
>> projects. The crew leaders make sure that structure is being maintained
>> and that the young people are working as a team. The job also includes
>> maintaining vital team records and a list of the team’s accomplishments
>> while overseeing its finances. The team I led camped and worked in the
>> local community and learned something about life for young people who are
>> involved in gangs. We did some serious work, but we had time for fun and
>> relaxation as well. We went to the movies and to several parks. One was
>> the Lakeside Amusement Park, where I had my first ever funnel cake.
>>
>> Graduation day was a proud moment for the youth participants in the team I
>> headed. It was amazing to see how quickly they had bonded. We were
>> surprised at what we felt; separation after only a few short weeks found
>> us shedding tears and vowing to stay in touch.
>>
>> A few weeks later it was finally time for my team to reflect and celebrate
>> as our time in the program drew to a close. On July 23, 2009, AmeriCorps
>> NCCC Class XV graduated. Again there were tears of joy and sorrow, for
>> these ten months had forever changed all of us. Our call to serve had
>> helped, if only in a small way, to better the parts of the world we
>> touched, but for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and
>> what we gave came back to us in blessings and memories we will carry
>> throughout our lives.
>>
>> Looking back, I see that my experience was not everything I had wanted it
>> to be. Not everyone reacted to blindness as I hoped they would, but my
>> participation did make a difference in perceptions--my own and the
>> perceptions of others. This experience revealed things about me that have
>> caused me to look more deeply into who I am, the service I want to give,
>> and the person I want to become. I have had to come face to face with some
>> shortcomings in myself, but I've also realized that I have an important
>> asset. I am not afraid to try, not afraid to push the envelope, and not so
>> afraid of failing that I am content to stay within my comfort zone.
>>
>> Now that I've finished with the corps and have gone back to school, I've
>> realized what a major impact service can have on others and on those who
>> serve. Nothing is more fulfilling than finding a cause greater than
>> oneself. I believe that our chapters can and should be involved in service
>> and that, by visibly serving others, we will go a long way toward changing
>> the perception of blind people. Through service we can move from being
>> perceived as the takers who must be served to being the providers who not
>> only do for ourselves but care enough to help in our communities. Through
>> our words and, more important, through our actions, we will convince our
>> fellow citizens that we have something to offer, and through service we
>> will help to change what it means to be blind.
>>
>> I'll leave you with a short reflection connecting service to blindness.
>> When I went to the CCB, it was to learn skills and attitudes that would
>> help me be the best I can. Service was my way of putting the theory I had
>> been taught to the test. It was my way of figuring out whether the
>> attitudes I thought I believed were things I could talk about and whether
>> I believed them enough to translate them into action. Service has given me
>> a way to show both me and the world that I can go to unfamiliar areas,
>> meet new people, and make significant contributions. The CCB was the first
>> step; service was the second. Both are steps on the staircase to
>> independence and interdependence, and I commend both to all of you for the
>> liberation climbing these stairs brings to all of us.
>>
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