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After spending an entire day raking ten times our weight in leaves and sanding till our hair was white, it was a nice change for our group to walk into the clean, well-run Sheltering Arms facility. As I’m sure you’ve read by other group’s posts, Sheltering Arms is an affordable daycare service for low-income families that offers a safe, loving, and educational environment for children in disadvantaged situations. At different times during the day, our group members were smoothing the edges on tiles for a building-wide art project, feeding and rocking infants, and chasing after toddling toddlers in an attempt to pre-empt their mischief. It’s interesting to think how even one day of playing with kids and organizing class projects can have a significant impact, a fact that I was able to experience first hand. The 2-3 year-olds in my group spent 50% of their time staring at me trying to figure out what I was doing, 50 % of their time repeating everything I did, and 50 % of their time doing everything I asked them not to (If you don’t understand the percentage total, you have never met an energetic toddler). What was very apparent, however, was that I was something new in the lives of these children, and as such, they took note of and will remember the new dance moves and games that we played for much longer that today. I think it makes a difference for the teachers, employees, and children of Sheltering Arms to see young, college-age, students who want nothing more out of their spring break than the chance to come and volunteer their time and talents to children in difficult situations.To me, that is the ultimate worth of service, giving up a small part of your time completely to the lives of others and letting them know that they are worth the time that you spent.

Heather Walls
Centre College 2011