Freshman service day blog reflection

On thursday, September 22nd all Freshmen spent the day cleaning with flood cleanup. Our class went to first a park and then a man named Tom's house. It was just our class so I knew everybody at least by name. We helped clean the park in the morning. We cleaned off the concrete and faked the leaves. Then we went to Tom's house which wasn't far from the park. His house was down to the stirs and the subfloor on the inside and there were holes on the floor. We had noticed a "bathtub ring" around everything at the park and his house also had one. Our main job was to get this ring off the outside of his house. It was tough work. I was sore from kneeling and scrubbing. I was pretty proud of the work we did. It wasn't very fun and there were times I was complaining but every time I finished a chunk of the house it was gratifying. The outside didn't look like it had been sitting in water when we were done. It sometimes seems like washing the outside of a house doesnt do anything to help. Like drywalling or putting in the floors or getting rid of the stuff he wasnt going to keep would have been more helpful. Tis makes a difference because when he drives up to his house he doesn't have to look at that ring. It gives him hope,like he said, that this is possible. It makes progress even if it seems unimportant, the house looks like their house again, not one in the news showing the flood damage. I am very into doing service, but I enjoy working more with the people themselves. I felt a little disconnected because I am so used to getting to closely interact with the people I'm doing service for. I did get to talk to him a little bit and I was inspired by hjow kind he was and how enthusiastic he seemed to be given the situation. I think that is what got me through the day. I think my reaction was pretty similar to everyone else's. We all complained a little but were proud of ourselves when we saw our finished work and when Tom told us what it meant to him. This was also a way to get closer as a class because we were working together and talking while we worked. I really enjoyed getting to know everybody more and I think we would all agree on that. This is very similar to a project I did for NHS last year. We were cleaning up a few houses and buildings in a rundown neighborhood and making it look pretty. It was basically the same meaning to the people living there as it was to Tom but we didn't get to meet them. This time it was also a lot more organized because there was no standing around, and we always had something to do.