Profile of a Volunteer

The person I am profiling is Mr. Jones, he cuts the grass around the school, beautifies the area for free. And every Tuesday and Thursday he comes to the school to read to as many classes as he can. He bought pink tee shirts for all the children when they participated in the Breast Cancer Awareness week. He bought all the children age-appropriate books for Christmas which was over 80. He gave the teachers smoked turkeys for Thanksgiving, and a ham for Christmas. All these things take up his valuable time and money and he expects nothing in return doing all these things.

The children love him as if he were there grandfather, they listen and respect him. All the teachers enjoy when he reads to their classes because the children listen, and the teachers can do other things while he reads.

One teacher was stressed about the holidays and having enough food for her family, and when Mr. Jones called me about who needed a turkey she was first on my list. He smoked the turkeys and delivered them to the teachers who needed them.

His kindness and sacrifices are encouraging and inspirational. The impact he has on children with behavioral development is amazing because these children respond to his attention and give him their attention. Personally, I am amazed that he finds the time each week faithfully to come and read. He is dependable and always ready to help. He happens to hear us talking about the children wearing pink tee shirts and just volunteered to buy them for the school.

My takeaway from this volunteer is his selflessness, his willingness to help, his thoughtfulness, and consistency. I think these are all traits of a profile of a volunteer. Because it is all about giving in a world centered on taking. Children are the innocents in our world, and they all deserve love, safety, and guidance. Volunteering should always be about positive interactions and serving others for however long you have.

Using Social Media to Get Connected

I have a Facebook, and a LinkedIn account and this blog as connected social media. I have my phone and at one time a web site that I created for a school project.

I could use all my social media tools for my advocacy because they are connected to the world. I could use Facebook to write daily information about my advocacy, and post the information on LinkedIn, as well as start a blog solely dedicated to my advocacy. And according to Kieff (2009), I could develop a web site solely dedicated to my ideas, to the issues of importance to me (p.121). And then there are the people I interact with being my social tools for an outlet for me to share information with their contacts. When I Facebook with someone, they have numerous shared friends and many more that I do not know, all being opportunities to ask them to friend me.

I think having reputable information about the issue causes and effects will motivate some conversations. I would also write some letters, according to Kieff (2009):” Letters to the editor are a good way for professional educators to be active links between the public and the educational community” (p.121).  I would also write to my legislature and congressman. I can see starting a petition to obtaining the attention of policymakers(pp.123,125). I would also use my email at work to inform my colleagues of the issue, and the plans to move forward and solicit their help and advice. And last but can be very effective I would use YouTube to inform, invite, and inspire others to join forces with me to make a change.

I know there are many avenues for social media that I am not familiar with that my colleagues can share with me. Please feel free and welcomed to share. Thanking you in advance of your help.

Advocacy Messages

5 days is all it takes to become dependent on opioids

Opioid dependence can happen in just five days. Many young adults don’t know the power of opioids and can quickly become addicted to them.

And because of this, a lot of people are dying. In 2016, more than 42,000 people died of opioid overdoses in the U.S.

The campaign message that I found to be inspiring was the one where a young lady allowed her detoxification of drugs to be filmed. The story is about a young lady who at 14 years of age was a dancer that hurt her ankle. The doctor prescribed her some pain pills, that led her to an addiction, that turned into heroin addiction, that took everything from her, and everybody that she loved. The campaign message is a short film about six minutes shown at bus stops, and the impact is great I saw people in the audience shedding tears.

The reason this message is so effective is that the young lady did not seek to become a drug addict, she trusted her doctor and took the prescribed medication, Her body betrayed her and she became another statistic. The ease of how the addiction turned her life into a nightmare is like watching an accident happen, you do not want it to happen but you cannot turn your eyes away from the scene. A true story of redemption from the slavery of a drug lifts your heart, gives you hope, and encourages the one who is also in slavery to drugs.

My Own Capacity!

To answer the first question of what fuels my passion, I have to say it is the way early childhood teachers are viewed by others, and the income we earn usually shows how much we are valued. At the same time, I really want early childhood education accessible to all children in the same fashion as grades K-12. To realize that the pay we earn in general is no more than a babysitter earns is highly insulting. We are teachers, nurturers, and continuous learners. Each child that I meet whose parent(s) cannot afford childcare touches my heart. This one parent came in with two children and the four-year-old had the saddest eyes I have ever seen, I wanted to see her smile, run and play, I cannot explain how her sad demeanor made me ache to pay for her care out of pocket. Although I know passion is not enough, and according to Sharma(n.d.),: ”Advocates who attempt to fix everything run the risk of changing nothing….”.

The first thing to come to my mind that I can contribute to the advocacy efforts is my passion. My desire that others understand and embrace the cause, leaving all indifference at our concerns. The research skills that I have developed as a student here at Walden University could be useful. I believe in the power of research in an issue, and in finding resources who can be of help in furthering our resolutions. As Kieff (2009) called the resources “target”, the ones of influence who can help our advocacy obtain our objective(p.105).

When looking for answers, I am not opposed to looking at others in how they strategized. I know I do not have all the answers and being open to listening to others with different, or better methods is important. Working with children we all need and have to use patience, and patience is a skill needed for all advocates.  My patience could be of value, knowing that things have not changed and continuing to try is a positive force. Whatever skills I possess must be supportable with interested people (Sharma, n.d.). Although, I must be realistic and research if the goal if achievable (Sharma, n.d.)