There are still three days of projects left for the 9/11 Week of Service and the opportunity to sign up today, Saturday and Sunday on our Website.

As promised, we decided to give you a little glimpse of what some volunteers experienced while working this week. So, Kira Hale who volunteered with the Red Cross and Sean Leto (now one of our AmeriCorps volunteers) who volunteered with Jacob’s Ladder give you their takes. You still have the chance to sign up for other Jacob’s Ladder shifts, Race Against Hunger shifts, and others here today and through Sunday!

American Red Cross

Volunteers stand in front of the American Red Cross sign in Concord, N.C. during volunteering here for the 9/11 Week of Service.

How important do you think volunteering is to those big non-profit companies like American Red Cross? You may be as surprised as we were this week to find out that in areas like Cabarrus County, they depend on about 34 volunteers for every ONE staff member! According to our project coordinator today, Danielle Goubeaux, this is the case in their area and many others.

The 9/11 Week of Service gave me the opportunity to work with Red Cross for my first time. The project I volunteered for included a clean-up and beautification outside the Red Cross building in Concord, N.C. We helped with the landscaping by trimming hedges, pulling weeds, and cutting back overgrown trees. The staff members in this office were very grateful because they were starting to lose much of their sidewalk and front walkways to all of the overgrowth. They told us they are always in need for more volunteers to help their limited staff with facility and car maintenance, jobs such as painting or other big events like blood drives. So, if you have the time, lend a hand to these dedicated and wonderful people!

This is just part of the Tribute to 9/11: Week of Service, so check Hands on Charlotte’s calendar for upcoming projects! I’ll see you out there!

Kira Hale

Jacob’s Ladder

We forget that life doesn’t come with instructions. There are no signs pointing the right direction if you get lost. There are no manuals (some assembly required) if you wake up one morning and realize you aren’t completely satisfied with your life. Life would be much simpler if you had a book that told you to go left, when you thought about going right. A guide to say “Use Caution, Rocky Surface Ahead” or a step by step process to help you when you hit the “Dead End,” but there isn’t. Sometimes you just feel like turning off the car and walking. That’s why the world needs more groups like “Jacob’s Ladder”.

Jacob’s Ladder helps people make positive changes in their lives. The organization helps folks, by guiding them and helping them back on their career paths. Jacob’s Ladder helps support whatever needs their clients may have, from interviewing skills, to full dress suits for their appointments.  The organization also does work with the clients’ employers to get their clients hired — clients who often face major barriers to employment. Jacob’s Ladder is there, helping people find their way, after they have gotten lost and taken a left, when no one was there, to help them go right.

We spent the morning pulling weeds, sweeping, weed whipping, and doing general clean up. I have always said you can’t save the world in one hour, but don’t tell Weston that. You would think he had solved the world hunger problem the way he was smiling. If a person can find happiness in pulling weeds, I imagine they can find happiness in anything.

We take so many things in our life for granted. We forget that when we are lying awake, cursing the things we don’t have and dreaming of what we want.  We forget that without our parents or our peers to keep us on course, you could end up very far from where you should be. We forget that with no road maps and no step by step directions, life can send you in some very dangerous directions. An, while I have always had people to redirect me and get me back on the right path, not everyone does. The only way I can see saying “thank you” to the people that were there for me is to try and be there for someone else. Even if that someone just needs a little gardening in a church.

Sean Leto
sean@handsoncharlotte.org

So, get involved and sign up today on our Website!