Getting involved in the community was always something the school suggested, my church encouraged, and my mother demanded.  It was never a want but always a must.  I, like most belligerent, rebellious teenagers, didn’t like doing something simply because I was told to and for that reason alone.  It was safe to say that whether or not it was for a good cause, and whether or not it would make me a better person, I didn’t want to do it.

            First on my very long list of community help were a few seasons of Mary’s Walk with Meme.  Not long after were the exhaustingly boring months of the soup kitchen with a friend of my mother’s from the YMCA and her daughter.  Shortly after, my mother and I volunteered at Elizabeth’s Walk, a walk in memory of a former neighbor of ours who lost the fight to cancer.  Next were CCD, Youth Ministry, and various fund raisers and activities held by my church, and then I was introduced to high school.  While every high school has its own community activities and fund raisers, ours was certainly not a priority of mine.  I was finished, done, or as I told my mom ‘burnt out.’

            Of course time went on just like that for the duration of about a year until my mother became restless.  She urged me to get involved once again and that even if I didn’t like it I had to.  So of course I didn’t because now that it was my choice and not hers, I didn’t see the point.  She couldn’t make me.

            Naturally, I came around and decided that volunteering wasn’t simply a must anymore, but a want, too.  I took the plunge from working next to mom and dad to working alongside my peers and kids there for the same reason I was.  It was unlike any volunteering I’ve ever done before; I was happy.  As corny and cliché as it may sound, I made new friends, we created bonds, and I had fun.  I gave back to the community I had so often given back to but saw my work in a whole new light.  It was rewarding, it was satisfying, and it was gratifying.  Not only was my time being well spent but I could feel it too.  I could even go as far as to say I felt like a new person; reborn again.

            The only regret I have is not joining Interact sooner.  The more help I give the better I feel and, although I was content before I joined, life would have been all the more worthwhile had I began earlier.  Now that I am, once again, involved in my community I can’t picture my life without volunteering.

Brittany