Near the end of my 10th grade year I got myself
into trouble which would result in getting a juvenile record. For my probation
I had to complete 30 hours of community service. I decided to volunteer at a
soup kitchen. I learned a lot from my experiences volunteering and would like
to share them with you.
In order to tell you about my volunteer experience I would first like to tell you why I had to do community service in the first place. Close to the end of my 10th grade year I got into a quarrel with another student in which curse words ensued and a face to face confrontation happened. After that quarrel I got suspended for 2-3 days but I would go on to do something that would get me expelled from high school and get charged.
In order to tell you about my volunteer experience I would first like to tell you why I had to do community service in the first place. Close to the end of my 10th grade year I got into a quarrel with another student in which curse words ensued and a face to face confrontation happened. After that quarrel I got suspended for 2-3 days but I would go on to do something that would get me expelled from high school and get charged.
As I was in the principal’s office and once she told me that
I was going to suspended I became outraged. The principal would go on to leave
me in her office for a few minutes because she had to take care of another
task. Sitting in her room I began to get more outraged then before and at last
something caught my attention, her soda cup.
I got this idea from watching Pro-Wrestling as professional
wrestler Chris Jericho would turn his back to the camera and went pass two dark
curtains and would proceed to urinate into a tea pot in side of an office room
(no one was in the room at the time). Professional wrestler William Regal would
go into his office and pour tea into his mug and drink it. Did Chris Jericho
really urinate into William Regal tea pot? I may never know but when Chris
Jericho went behind the curtain you could hear a urinating sound.
I saw that the principal’s cup was sitting on her desk and I
decided to urinate in her cup. After I urinated into her cup I went back to my
seat. A little bit of time passed and the principal came back into her office
and told me to seat outside in the waiting room as she called my father. The principal
would later walk out of her office with a shocked look on her face. The dean of
the school met up with me a few minutes later and asked me if I urinated in the
principal’s cup and which I replied, “Yes, I did.” The dean of the school
called my father and once my father came I found out that I was going to be
expelled from school and that the principal was pressing charges.
I got charged with simple assault and aggravated assault
which would be on my juvenile record (I was 16 years old at the time of the
incident) also I was put on probation. My father found me an attorney (in which
I paid the fees of the attorney’s cost with my own money) and my attorney got
me a deal in which I had to do 30 hours of community service and a group
therapy session with other young offenders and my juvenile record would be expunged.
I completed my group therapy session and decided to do my
community service at the York Rescue Mission. The York Rescue Mission is a soup
kitchen which is also a halfway house. My usual job was to either stand at the
desert table or give out deserts to the homeless and to the people that lived
there and also give out food that was made in the kitchen.
Each time I came into the York Rescue Mission to complete my
hours I got to know the people that were working with me. Some of the people I
worked with also had probation and had other reasons on why they had to do
community service. The rest of the people that I worked with lived there and
had to help out in the kitchen.
As I began working I started to really enjoy giving food to
others that was less fortunate. Even though some of the homeless weren’t really
appreciative of what they were given, most were content. I met all types of people
while working at the soup kitchen. Most were people that just wanted a bite to
eat and others were very friendly. I did come across some that seemed to be anti-social.
Once I even got to witness a fight between two men why did
the fight happen I had no clue but to see stuff like that go down, things like
that can make you wonder. Mostly I would see a community of homeless people eat
together and that is what made me happy. I even saw people that I knew outside
of the soup kitchen which surprised me because I knew that there weren’t
homeless but times are hard for some.
Before me and the rest of the staff that would serve food to
the homeless we would first have to serve food to the people that lived there.
I usually communicated with the people that lived there. Most if not all of the
people that lived inside of the York Rescue Mission had a past criminal record.
That did not stop me from getting to know most of them since they would take
turns working in the kitchen.
One day while working a person came up and started a
conversation. This person never told me his name but he did tell me to go get
an education and to change my ways. I think if I were to see him and tell him
that I’m in college, I honestly believe that he would elated. Little things
like that can really change someone’s life.
Overall this experience made me realize that I needed to
make something out of myself. Just getting to meet people that are less fortunate
then I am really is an eye opener. I can truly appreciate random things like
having conversations with people that I don’t really even know or watching
homeless people eat and interact with one another within a small soup kitchen
can be a really rewarding feeling.
I’m glad that I did get myself in trouble for the sole
purpose of doing community service. I realized from that point on if I would
have continued down the road I was going that I might be there or maybe worst.
I got to meet some good people that just made dumb mistakes like I did.
I learned that there are people out there that have less
then me and there are people who are just like me in some aspects. I might have
even touched someone’s life by simply giving them food or by giving them
desert. Even with simple conversation I might even have helped someone.
I recommend volunteering at a soup kitchen for any reason.
You might be saving someone’s life and you may not even know it. From urinating
into a principal’s cup to giving people food that’s my story.
