Name: Linda Wright
From: Columbia, South Carolina
Votes: 0
Feeding
the Mentally Challenged
I
have volunteered in a mentally challenged home serving the patients
food. I chose to volunteer there because my mom was working there and
I feel that they need the same love as anybody else. When
volunteering there I knew that it touched them. Not often do they see
people, not getting paid from the community wanting to help them.
Therefore little things like that means a lot to them. I have
volunteered about eight hours a day during the summer, except the day
that my mom was off. When volunteering I had to serve food and hand
out drinks. Depending on the time I was there is what I would serve.
Throughout the day they normally had breakfast, lunch, snack and then
dinner. Volunteering there I would say my biggest challenge was
talking to them. When they finished their food they would constantly
ask for more. Personally I do not like repeating things over and over
but I couldn’t really get frustrated and I just had to work with them
and continue to repeat that they couldn’t or that they had to wait in
a nice manner. I would say that I am most satisfied at the results.
Seeing the smile on their faces and how happy they are when you come
back to see them makes me happy. Volunteering in this position has
taught me that the smallest things or what we think are the smallest
thing mean so much to them.
Looking
into the future I see my activities changing a lot of people’s lives.
I see people treating everyone as equal. Forward-looking to me means
change; it does not have to be a big change but seeing the
difference. Seeing people act differently than they would have acted
in the pass. I seek to change how we treat the mentally challenged.
They are people too so they should be treated like everyone else is.
I want to open everyone’s eyes so that they can see that. In the
future I was to come back to where I started, I definitely think that
my activities would have made a difference. I feel that once you
introduce people to the situation they will actually enjoy it. People
are always on the outside looking in. They never interact with the
people to actually understand and bond with them.
