Last Community Service

Over the weekend, I volunteered at my mom's hospital from 6 am to 4:30 pm. I told everyone that I played bingo with that it was my last day and they were sad to see me go. I myself was also sad because I never realized how much of an eye opener it can be to work with the elderly. I've worked with the elderly before, but not on a personal level like this. For my last day, I got to meet someone new who had the same disability as me. However, his was more severe than mine - he was in a wheelchair and could barely talk. His name was Tom. Playing bingo with him was a lot of fun. Looking back, I remember I would get scared of those types of people because of personal experiences. Anyway, this guy changed my whole view on people like us. He was a little temper mental at first, but soon enough he was willing to open up to me. I got to help him move his bingo pieces and see how his computer worked. Most people I've met who have cerebral palsy that badly hardly ever use their computer to communicate, but he used his every time someone talked to him. I loved spending time with Tom because he was different from the other people I normally worked with. He would always laugh and make jokes whenever I fed him during break time and my mom was happy to see that I made a new friend. This won't be the last time I see them; I want to volunteer there again over the summer and grow stronger bonds with each of the people. Everyone says that doing community service is very rewarding, but in my case it's true. I love working with people - especially those I can empathize with because then we would have something to talk about. I'll be sad to leave such a loving, caring group of people - people who have grown to be like family to me.