For Kids Inc.
1. Volunteer Experience
For Kids Inc. gives opportunities in 3 cities in Hampton Roads: Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Suffolk. This organization offers numerous ways someone can offer help and volunteer. Just to name a few, volunteers can have experience being a receptionist, where they answer calls and greet visitors. They can serve as a retail associate. In this position, a volunteer processes and organizes donations that are given to the thrift store, which is located in Norfolk. A volunteer can also experience being a tutor to children in their after-school program.
2. Description
The purpose of this organization is to help families and children become stable and soon thrive. Their mission is to break the ongoing cycle some families endure of poverty and homelessness. The partner provides multiple services to help families in all areas. For one, they provide tutoring for kids who are falling behind. Most importantly, they provide food, clothes, and shelter for underprivileged families. This organization addresses the issues that are faced all over the world, poverty and homelessness. Many people turn a blind eye to these issues if it does not affect them but this incorporation places a very needed highlight on these problems that millions face.
This organization is important to the community because, like stated before, many families experience poverty, sadly. Many of them even experience generational poverty when their parents lived in poverty, and the parents before them. This being said, a lot of families in such a sad predicament often feel hopeless and stuck, especially when they have to find a way to support their children. Therefore, this organization is necessary for the community because it gives people hope, and a place to lean on when they are in desperate need. Most importantly, it offers a space for children of these situations to learn and grow, and hopefully with this, overcome poverty themselves when they get older. After reading an article, I have learned that they have provided over 50 families locally with homes.
3. Reflection
Reflecting on the For Kids Inc.’s mission and goals, my value on the importance of health has certainly heightened. The health of a person depicts everything that they can and cannot do in life. With this project, I have realized that so many families locally do not have opportunities to go to the doctor when they have a serious sickness, or to the dentist when they have a cavity. All these things, I have taken for granted because I experience all of these doctor visits multiple times a year. Furthermore, I have realized the importance in striving for healthcare to be free, so a person’s financial means does not simply endanger their life.
Most importantly, from reading about this organization I realized the importance of being a healthcare provider on the local level. Oftentimes, I have viewed aiding people and being in the healthcare field on a big/national level. With this, I have looked at how me being a nurse would affect the world as a whole. However, learning about this organization has caused me to realize how important it is to help people of the world just down the street from me. I have realized that helping an individual local family overcome poverty and homelessness is just as equal in importance and meaningful as helping 1000 hospital patients nurses aid a day.
4. Correlation/Parallel Major
This organization correlates with my major regarding the missions and concerns. Both this organization and the nursing field are there to aid people in their health. Most importantly, to try and set them up for a successful and better life. Besides nursing, I feel like the Community and Environmental Health major greatly correlates with the organization. They both have the good of the community as the main focus. I also feel the Social Work major somewhat correlates this organization. Both strive to get children out of abusive or poverty situations. They both aim to give children an opportunity at a better life. I think out of the two, I would do Community and Environmental Health as a parallel major. This is because I feel nursing would go pretty well with the major and both focuses on the good of people and community.