The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Carri C. during the 2007-2008 League.
Volunteering for a Non-Profit/Community Organization - Jackson Area Home Educators
I am part of the Jackson Area Home Educators (JAHE), and their small group called Pioneers Co-op, where students can take classes once a week. Pioneers is a non-profit organization. They wish to teach come alongside of parents and offer tutorial support for the middle through highschool years. I attend this Co-op, and this past school year I volunteered to take care of the Monitor Station every week. (Part of the office duties)
The Monitor Station is where each family has a folder and the Co-op or other people can place announcements, Co-op invoice or anything else. It is also where any flyers or posters are hung up so that the families will see them when they check their file. Families can also turn in their payment, homework, or permission slips. And there are office supplies and a lost and found area.
My job was a simple and easy one. I waited for all the families to leave, and then I took down the posters and flyers, I placed all the loose papers in a file to take out the next week, I threw out any outdated announcements and flyers, and I cleaned up the supplies and lost and found. When I finished, I would box everything up and take it to the Pioneers office and stack them in a corner, and the next week someone would come and set it all up. I am also asked some weeks to put announcement papers into the files, to mail the contents of a file to a family, or to copy and staple piles of papers to then place in the files. Whatever they asked me to do I would do it, and this also helped to improve my office skills.
At the end of every year, I would throw out all of the flyers, posters, and announcements. I would clean out everyone's files, and I would clean out the lost and found.
I have actually been doing this for 5 years now, and I enjoy it. One year I took an opportunity to witness by making a small flyer with a Bible verse on it, and a question for the person to ask themselves concerning the verse. I called it Fire of God, and each week I would place one of these into each file. It was nice at the end of the year to be thanked for doing this.
So I am very glad that I volunteered to do this. I have learned many skills, and it was a perfect opportunity to get to know the people who work in the office and the administration of Pioneers. I will be volunteering again this year, and I can't wait!
