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The Power of Volunteering Your Time

I have learned so much about the importance and power of volunteering your time. In high school, I was a part of a couple community service clubs, but I never really put a ton of time into any of the community service events. My freshman year at TCU, I volunteered every week at Kinderfrogs on campus, and I had a blast working with kids with disabilities. I also joined the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity which is when I found out about the Journey of Hope (JOH). JOH is a 64 day bike ride across the country which raises money and awareness for people with disabilities. I thought it was a perfect undertaking after volunteering at Kinderfrogs, so I signed up. I ended up raising over $7,000 through emailing my friends and family to participate in the event. My network of people made the journey across the United States possible, and I am extremely grateful for everyone that made it possible. 

During the Journey, I cycled over 4,000 miles from San Francisco to Washington D.C.. We averaged about 75-80 miles on the bike each day, and we stayed on gym floors and in the basement of churches. Along with the cycling, we had friendship visits at almost every stop. These friendship visits involved us participating in everything from dance parties to wheelchair basketball with some exceptional individuals. Everyone we visited had disabilities, but they showed more joy and compassion than anyone I have ever met. I had countless memorable experiences along the way that I will cherish for the rest of my life. It was the 32nd year of the ride, and some of the communities treated the day we road through as a holiday. I'll never forget that someone came up to me and said that the day we were there was better than Christmas. It was really special to see the impact we had on the communities that we passed through, but it was even cooler to see how the communities and people impacted all the guys on the ride for the better. The Journey was the first time that I felt like I was participating in something bigger than myself. All in all, I learned that if you put your time into something, you can really make a difference, and you can learn so much about yourself as well. 

Comments

  1. williams.dan76February 5, 2020 at 10:06 AM

    I am so pleased to read about your JOH experiences--and so impressed. I am an outdoors person and a cycler, so I can imagine the grind of 75-80 miles a day. Good for you, and great that it was so meaningful for so many others along the way. Thanks for describing your experiences. I think your learning experiences were probably worth a handful of classroom courses.

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