8th Dimension

Last weekend, three other students and I went to New Creation Community Center in North Philadelphia to volunteer with the values through sports and arts program. Kids from ages 5-15 are able to attend on Saturday mornings to spend time with each other, volunteers, and the program leader. Board games, arts and crafts, basketball, and football are activities readily available to the kids to help them learn the importance of working until a task is complete, teamwork, and developing life skills. At lunchtime, the program leader takes time to speak with the kids about important values that they may not learn otherwise. This past weekend the topic was hard work and why it is necessary to learn self-discipline if they want to succeed. The volunteers then had the opportunity to introduce themselves and tell the kids about what they were studying in order to help illustrate all the possibilities available. The program director sent an email to the volunteers later in the week saying, “I so appreciate the incredible compassion and desire to serve that is found in these young people.  It is so good to introduce them to the kids and let them tell the kids about their studies and what they want to do in the world. Half the battle is changing the vision of these youth in terms of what possibilities exist for them in the world.” Not only was it a great experience, but it was fun! I enjoyed a game of Life, Guess Who, shared in the making of multiple arts and crafts projects and was able to meet many interesting and funny kids.

Upcoming event: there will be another service day with the Values through Sports & Arts program on Saturday, March 26.