You see that crazy guy on the Ark? That's Ben Buss; he was my "supervisor" for the semester through Northern Virginia Lutheran Campus Ministry. He's awesome. He was super understanding and open to the idea of getting service hours by.....well, doing good things for those that needed them. In a way, that's kind of what LCM is all about; it's kind of a middle man sort of organization that hooks students up with service projects. That's obviously not all it is but that is a big part of it. I did as much as I could for LCM itself but much like my internship for NCC this semester, that didn't really feel like I was doing any good. This whole process of learning should be about doing as much good as possible and making connections......so that's what I did.
Here's where my hours came from:
- Flyering; I put up flyers every single week for 747 services and various other LCM activities. I did 3 intense full campus flyerings this semester. For about 5 weeks or so, I also did flyers for United College Ministries because the student who puts up flyers for them had a broken arm.
- Church Planning; I helped plan a service on joy this semester. I only did it once because I am bad at it. I honestly don't know the Bible well enough to plan services. I am however a fantastic cook...and sometimes services need food.
- Service Projects; stuff like volunteering at the Katherine K. Hanley shelter or helping at Relay For Life. I forget what else we did but those things are actually making a difference. Who cares if it's not directly for LCM; it's better than doing something directly for LCM because it's actually helping people in the broad scheme of things. None of it is really my thing but at least it feels productive.
- Photographs; I take photos at most of the events LCM does. Since our service is co-sponsored by United College Ministries I also provide them with photographs. Both organizations will use my photographs for annual reports and to use for "marketing" purposes. I know Ben wants to put some of the photos on the big tri-board for summer orientation.
- Church Visitation; I was a walking, talking advertisement for LCM. Quite honestly, I really love speaking to congregations about LCM; makes me feel more important than I actually am. Saying things out loud also makes me realize, "Oh, yeah. I guess we kind of are making a difference in lives."
- Spring Break; I went on this service trip down to Jacksonville, FL with LCM/UCM which involved a few other nonprofits. The trip was through Society of St. Andrew and the specific program was called Harvest of Hope. We were also hooked up with the Jacksonville Urban Mission Experience but that was kind of disastrous; when we got there we found out the dorm building didn't pass inspection so we had to stay on the floor of a gym at a church/school. Anyhow, the whole point of the trip was to glean leftover crops for the hungry and that's just what occurred. Between my times in the field I experienced a lot of thought on the way people interact, the way programs are planned, the way nonprofits function, and being able to do the things I love for a living. I was urged not to do my experiential learning over spring break but honestly, that's where I learned the most. Sorry. (Honestly, that wasn't a surprise to me; I'd count Pop Montreal, Popped Philly, and going on tour as my biggest learning experiences and they were all week-long adventures.) For the most part, I was miserable on the trip but I at least came back with some additional knowledge (mostly about myself) that I didn't have before.
So there you have it. (And that's not even counting all of the fun stuff.) It's actually really nice that I got such diverse experiences since I'm cramming my Mason time into a year and half and will be expected to write about the million things I did in a portfolio. Beneficial to me, beneficial to other people, and hopefully to your liking, Dear Reader.
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