[Community-Service] Discussion starter

[Darian Smith]

Some time ago, I was a crew leader for a youth program.  That program served high school aged inner-city youth.
These were youth that through circumstances in life, had trouble in school, did not have great home lives, or may have been a part of gangs. 
As a part of the program my colleagues, who were fellow group leaders and I worked with a team of youth,  , completing a number of service projects.
 We did some neighborhood revitalization, some park clean up, some trail building,  for example, and came to understand, through reflection, the impact of the work that we did.  Along the way my colleagues and I witnessed some  pretty powerful growth from these bright, caring, and empathetic teens.
 I have been fortunate to participate in some pretty meaningful community service activities  both within the federation and outside of it. This is the first one to truly stand out to me because of some of the really powerful things that the participants taught me about their life experiences, things that  no one so young should have to experience, and things that their prospective helped me to think differently about.
 Were there times where my blindness played a role in how I did my job? Certainly, did it keep me from doing my work as my fellow crew leaders did there work? No. Did it impact how the teens looked at me? AT the beginning, it did, but as time went on it played less a role as we connected on an authentic  and human level.
 It did not take too much time  for  my particular team to bond, and for the team to truly care for one another.  Everywhere we went we  did things together, no matter how quiet or vocal a person on the team was, what allergy, sensitivity, or other perceived limitation, we saw to it  that we faced challenges and celebrated our achievements together.   ,   
One  incident challenged us and the way that we responded to it is  something that I don’t believe I will ever forget. 
 One morning we went   too support an organization who’s mission is to provide warm  meals for the disabled  and elderly. Upon reaching the site and introducing ourselves as a team, one of the  agency staff kept referring  to the fact that they were not initially notified   that we were bringing a blind person along with us. After a brief orientation and an explanation of the work that needed to be done we decided who among us  would go where and do what and off we went. 
Just as we began to head to our areas and get to work, one of the folks from the  organization pulled the group leaders aside and informed us that  they did not know that a blind individual was coming and that the person who was blind  was not allowed in the kitchen due to how dangerous the kitchen tends to be. Without  me saying a word, my fellow group leaders said that if one person was not allowed in the kitchen that no one would go, and so the individual from the organization decided that then no one would be allowed in the kitchen.
I knew that the actions the organization decided to take were discriminatory and while I was ready to stand up for myself, I also   was prepared  to let the discrimination take place  because I Knew that as a leader, my experience was far less important than the  experience of the youth in our care.       ,.  Having felt horrible for the opportunity that our team might have missed out on I began to apologize to the team as a whole.  
 To my surprise, each and every person in our group decided that they did not want to be.  where I could not be, because we were a team and  we did not let anything break up that team.
 My apologies  for just getting to write this, but I do hope it  was at least a little worth the wait.
 Because Jeanetta insisted that I start with  my experience, I trust that she will contribute, then more of the board and more of our membership might contribute as well.
 I did, after all, give you plenty of time to think the subject over  *smile*                      
   , .   , ,    

> On Sep 12, 2019, at 3:04 PM, Jeanetta price <price.jeanetta at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Darian, 
> 
> Great discussion starter! How about you share your experience first with the membership to kick it off! I can’t wait to hear your most memorable community service endeavor. I’m sure after you share more will follow your lead. 
> 
> With anticipation, 
> JP 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Sep 12, 2019, at 3:43 PM, Darian Smith via Community-Service <community-service at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Federation family,
>> Because this is a division that encourages the blind to be involved in community service, I thought I might ask a question in hopes that it might spark a discussion.
>> 
>> What is your most memorable community service project or activity?
>> Some of us might have only one experience.  If this is the case, I hope you will share it with us.  Some of us can think of a number of them.  If you can think of many, I encourage you to think about the ones you most enjoyed and grab hold of one from your brain and share it with us.
>> Happy Sharing! 
>> Darian  ,  
>> 
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