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Volunteerism

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Volunteerism
Katie Burdick
Southern Nazarene University
Personal & Professional Development
OL L 13
Professor Pamela McCoy
July 24, 2015

Volunteerism
Concrete Experience The nature of my learning experience encompasses volunteering from two different perspectives. When I first started volunteering it was because I was directed to by someone in my chain of command. And today I volunteer because I enjoy the positive feeling of giving back to the community. Over the years I feel I have grown personally by helping others.
One of my first volunteer experiences was while I was stationed on Whidbey Island, Washington in October of 2009. During March 2009 I was afforded the opportunity to help clean up the Child Development Center on Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. My initial reason for going was to get out of the office for a day, however renovating the outdoor play areas turned out to be hard work. After spending hours getting everything cleaned up and in order, it was emotional seeing the happiness it brought to the children to be able to play outside again. It was at that point in time that I realized giving up some of my free time to the community leaves me with a great feeling of accomplishment.
My second volunteer experience in Oak Harbor, Washington a group from my command set up a volunteer day with Habitat for Humanity H4H. At first I did not want to go because I did not think I would be able to provide any valuable help as I do not have any experience in construction. The H4H site coordinator was ready for all of us and had jobs planned for those of us with no experience so that we could equally contribute. I spent most of the day as a “go-fer,” I would run back and forth making sure everyone had enough lumber, nails, and other supplies they needed for whatever project they were assigned to. I learned from this experience that it

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