Men in Bowler Hats and Women in Great Dresses Essay examples -- Volunt

Men in Bowler Hats and Women in Great Dresses The day was grey and heavy; snow, in great drifts, lined the brick way. The brick and concrete halls loomed in the horizon; the years of the past century seemed to descend upon me as a curtain. Men in bowler hats and women in great dresses seemed more appropriate than my khaki cargo pants or leather jacket. The brick became concrete; and, I walked the path down the hill, past the great elms, and into the Sackett building. Wandering up the stairs, down halls, and finally finding the appropriate room, I entered and greeted the ruckus of the Best Buddies’ organizational meeting. For those unfamiliar with Best Buddies, it is an organization of committed students who champion the interests of men and women with intellectual disabilities. However, Best Buddies is a humble organization; the organization emphasizes personal relationships and bonds of friendship over great initiatives of policy or mass demonstrations. The students who serve recognize the significance of such efforts but wish to participate in a more direct long term response. Working in several volunteer organizations, Best Buddies and the challenges confronted by both buddies and students most clearly underscore, for me, the growing need to recognize the role of volunteer organizations. To affect lasting change, students who work with disadvantaged children and people with disability must create lasting bonds, perennial bonds. Big Brother and Big Sister, Best Buddies, and the United Way all recognize this need and ask volunteers to commit to the cause for at least a year. For children in broken homes and people with disabilities, you need to establish trust. Only from a basis of trust, can a volunteer understand,... ...ry contributions the problems of society. Allowing children and adults from broken homes or with disabilities the opportunity to live fruitful lives, in part, must result from committed organizations of citizens, dedicated to weathering the inevitable heartbreaks of hard lives. So to my classmates and fellow volunteers, I urge you to remain committed and increase the awareness of the need for long term service. We Americans must recognize the need for civil society and restore a place for it; otherwise, we sanction the continuance of the great sorrows of society. We abandon what hearts, time, and hands can do and relegate our responsibility to the limits of foundations and money. As I walked away in the snow and wind, a sense of continuity filled me. My classmates and I joined a long tradition, reaching back beyond men in bowler hats and women in great dresses.