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| Organizing and moving crates to designated area |
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| This is what Foothills Food Bank looks like from the front. Waiting for the chick with the guy. |
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| Stacking / Sorting cereal boxes |
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| "Breaking down" sugar. Messy, time consuming process |
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| This would be where you first walk in as a customer. I organized the bread, by the way. |
Narrative
I did all 10 of my community service hours at Foothills Food Bank down off of Cave Creek Road; a civic duty. I decided to volunteer at Foothills Food Bank because out of all the food banks that I called, Foothills Food Bank sounded like they were in the most need of a volunteer. During my 10 hours at the Foothills Food Bank, I did a variety of things. Since it’s the holiday season, many people are giving more contributions to food banks so that the desperate families can have a happy Thanksgiving and Christmas. Due to this increase in contributions, the Foothills Food Bank was in a great need of my help. As soon as I got there on the first day, they put me to work. I organized cans of food, labeled them according to the month that they came in, and then sorted them into different crates according to what’s in the cans. When the crates got full, I would take the crates to the “shipping area” and get a new crate, label it and start the process again. When all the cans are done being organized, I would typically start “breaking down” food. For example, I would take scoops out of big bags of flour and move them into more, smaller bags of flour. After all the preparing and sorting was done, families would start coming in and I’d help them find the food that they are looking for and would help them prepare their carts of food. I did this process of preparing, breaking down, and handing out the food all four times that I went to the Foothills Food Bank. Overall, I really actually enjoyed my hours at Foothills Food Bank, and feel as though I had a great learning experience from it, and would not mind volunteering outside of school requirements.
Summative
Civic duty is the heart and core of America’s democracy government. Civic duty is exactly as it sounds to be: your duty as a citizen. The First Presidency in September 1968 urged their members “to do their civic duty and to assume their responsibilities as individual citizens in seeking solutions to the problems which beset our cities and communities” (lightplanet.com), which is still encouraged of American citizens to this day. Without citizens fulfilling their duty, we lose the foundation that this country was built on. Civic duty is not a requirement or demanded of a citizen, but it is expected and is needed in order to thrive as a successful democracy.
Civic duties consist of, but are not limited to, “voting, paying your taxes, participating in jury duty, protecting the environment, helping the lower class, working, serving in the military, reporting illegal activity, protecting innocent life from harm, protesting, raising a family, respecting laws and statues, and living a healthy life” (rateitall.com). Each of these civic duties are rights that are granted through the American democracy and Constitution that are not guaranteed in most other countries. As seen above, volunteering is not the only form of giving back to your community. The democracy of America would not succeed if people did not partake in all these civic duties. Americans taking place in voting plays a crucial role in the government of America, since Americas elect the government officials. Another civic duty is paying taxes, as stated above. The American government makes the majority of its money from taxes (taxpolicycenter.org) and paying taxes is expected and critical to have a thriving government. Serving is the military is the most respectable and one the biggest civic duties one can perform. Volunteering is a great form of civic duty that can give back greatly to the community and country of America as a whole. A democracy is a government through the people, and so the people inside the government should in turn help one another and those in need, and volunteering at local food banks is a great way to contribute and give to those who need help. Laws and statues are honorable forms of America that outline society. Laws keep people in line and statues recognize those who fulfilled their civic duties in an honorable way. Americans should pay their respects to the laws and statues and it is their civic duty to follow the laws that are written and made by government officials for the better of the people. If one is seen disrespecting the laws and / or committing illegal activity, it is one’s civic duty to report the person doing the illegal activity since it is a civic duty to be respectful and not dishonorable and commit illegal activity.
Every civic duty plays a huge part in the function of the American Democracy in its own way. Though civic duties are interpreted in many different ways, it is obvious that America thrives through American’s fulfilling their duty as a responsible citizen. Regardless the quantity or quality of civic duties that one performs, if one if partaking in their duty as a citizen, he / she is helping the American government strive to be successful.
Bibliography
(1987) Lightplanet.com Retrieved December 2, 2010, from
(2009). Taxpolicycenter.org. Retrieved December 2, 2010, from
(2006) Rateitall.com Retrieved December 2, 2010, from
http://www.rateitall.com/t-22382-civic-duties.aspx
By volunteering at Foothills Food Bank for 10 hours, I have made an impact on society and someone’s life and I have performed one of my civic duties. By volunteering, I have helped someone else in a greater need than me and have given to the community that I live in.
Being 17 years old, it is difficult to perform civic duties. I don’t pay taxes, I can’t vote, and I am not able to do a good amount of the civic duties expected of an American citizen. By volunteering, I am finally able to make a difference in my community and I am able to help those in dire need. Working at Foothills Food Bank was truly a humbling and inspiring experience for me. I have never done anything that had so much impact on society in my life and I felt like I was actually important and contributing to my country. Seeing those in dire need come in and gracefully take the food I had helped prepare made me feel all giddy on the inside, and opened up a window of opportunity for me to continue helping out my community and others that are in need. Places like Foothills Food Bank would not exist or thrive at all if it was not for the volunteers that come in every day. There is an incredible amount of work that goes into preparing food for the needy and Foothills simply could not do it without volunteers.
Many people do not realize just how much of an effect that volunteering has. I had no idea about how much of an effect it had until I saw the faces of those that I was helping by simply contributing a few hours of my day. My contribution helps those that are living in troubled times, struggling to make it through the day. I am one of a large amount of Americans who volunteer their time to give those people struggling a light at the end of the tunnel; a hope to survive and come out stronger than before, to then perform civic duties on their own and help others as they had been helped themselves.
Volunteering is more than just helping the needy, however. It is more than just a civic duty. It is a form of responsibility and liability to your country, a way to earn your spot in a country that is “through the people.” Civic Duty may open many American’s eyes to the truth that there are people struggling to survive, and that we live in a country where we are able to help those struggling people, when you can’t in other countries, and just how lucky we really are to be living in the greatest country in the world, run for and by the people.
