I have had a different experience than the others in my group because I have worked in the office area for the majority of the time. This, however, I feel was suited to and was glad that I could help out with tasks that they said other volunteers didn’t like to do. But not only was I able to listen to them and do something they needed rather than what I may have preferred to do, I was also able to interact with a few of the clients. One such experience has stuck with me and is very powerful in my mind. The other pillars that I haven’t talked about so far are reflection and sustainability. I think that both of these we dealt heavily with in the class. The sustainability aspect is very purposeful since relief cannot be given forever. However, I think that most places are striving to move towards development and that will eventually decrease the needs, volunteers and materials at all these organizations. So by putting in time for something sustainable you are not only helping the clients but also yourself and creating a more efficient model all around. Now, with that part taken care of, we can move on to reflection. I lump this story with reflection because it does not necessarily fit anywhere else. This young lady’s story makes me look back on the service hours I have done in the past and reconsider my views on them. It reinforces my decision to continue volunteering in Lexington in the future. After this experience, I came away with a different point of view than when I went in and it really opened both my mind and my heart to be able to not only understanding the suffering of these people but to care about them. So to properly tell this story I must start at the beginning. I had come into the Salvation Army on a day I had off after getting a text from the coordinator that the front desk worker had gone home sick. It asked if I could cover the desk, doing things such as taking phone calls and donations or manning the door so visitor and employees could enter. Traffic had been a bear and I ran in at 1:15 to relieve the temporary worker feeling in. It was a slow day and I was for the most part just sitting studying. I had been eating lunch and reading when out of the corner of my eye I saw a bus pull away from the building. I was slightly confused by then remembered that my group had said the kids at the Boys’ and Girls’ Club got bussed in. Then I saw a young girl walk in. I thought perhaps she was here to visit someone or even volunteer. She was a pretty girl not much older than me and she was expecting a baby. I automatically liked her and smiled as she walked up to the desk. Uncertain of what to do she asked in a quiet voice if she was in the right place. I was even more confused know than I was before. I asked if she was looking for someone perhaps the coordinator or a caseworker. But her answer absolutely changed the way that I viewed the people in these situations. She said that she had just been released from _____ Correctional Facility and they had told her to come here. She hadn’t know how to get here and had finally found her way to a public bus and the driver had known how to get her there. She apologized for not knowing what to do or who to see. What stuck with me was she just keep saying “I don’t know what I’m doing here or what I need to do” and “Sorry, I’m so confused”. I told her that I would call the coordinator and she would help her get in touch with a caseworker and get settled in the lodge. As she went out she turned around and took the time to say thank you to me for helping her. I was about the cry and I never cry. But here was a young girl about the same age as me who in all her confusion and fear took the time to thank me for sitting at a front desk and being helpful for about a minute. I never had really felt sorry for or wanted to help anyone more. She didn’t deserve to be in that situation. She had been let go from prison and they had given her mothing and sent her away. Here was a girl probably no more than twenty and expecting a baby, who had been let out of prison and simply left all alone. And this was the cord that struck me the most she said without ever looking up at me “I guess they consider me homeless”. Now, with no where to stay this young girl had been carelessly thrown into the cycle of poverty. And what I related to the most was that all she had was exactly what she was wearing which was a grey sweat suit wet for the pouring rain. Nothing! That was exactly what she had, absolutely nothing! No money, I don’t even think she had been able to pay the bus fare. And no extra clothes, nothing for the baby, no food or water. To me this seemed like my biggest fear come true. And perhaps what hurt the most was that there was no one in the world there for her. No family had offered their home, or come to pick her up, or sent something for her and the baby. She had been abandoned and was fighting for survival all alone. My stomach was in knots. I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt as I saw her walk up to the shelter. My mind flew back to my big log house with all my family hanging out in all the different rooms. I thought about my two big dogs who I spoiled like babies and of all the yummy food that I had only a few minutes earlier been dreaming about. I also thought of all the teasing that my friends and family do when I tromp home from Hobby Lobby with all my western décor that I obstinately tell them I will put in my own house someday and proceed to dump it down in a most inconvenient place on the loft floor. Suddenly I thought what would I do if I was in that girl’s shoes? She really was very similar to me. She was my height and age and even had the same color hair. I suddenly began to look at these people as not just some strangers that don’t work hard enough but as someone who might be my friend or neighbor who has just fallen on hard times. Wouldn’t I want to help them? Of course, I would be over there in a heartbeat and do what it took to help them out. It had taken years but suddenly sitting there looking at that girl and realizing that it could be me. Are we not supposed to treat others like we would want ourselves to be treated? I finally had a new view point on this whole experience. I was seeing people now for what they were, human beings that deserve respect and love, and no longer seeing them as what I wanted to them to be. I have often thought about the girl over the last few months. I have wondered where she is and if there is anyone in her life like the people that are in mine. I hope and pray that someday I meet that girl again and if so I want to thank her for opening my eyes.
-- Ashley Mattingly
-- Ashley Mattingly