Making Memories for Others

We began our volunteering at the St. Bernard Project with an ice breaker. We went around in a circle saying our name and the city we live in, then we recounted a childhood memory. After everyone had gone Chris, one our volunteer coordinators, told us the purpose of the ice breaker. Everyone of our memories was related to our neighborhood or a home. By building the house that we were working on today, we were helping a little boy or girl like us make memories. We helped families come together and have a normal life in a good home. Although we just painted the home and helped clean, I really felt like I was changing people’s lives. Even though the painting we did was just a small part of the home in the future, each minute we helped paint was a minute closer to a family moving in.

~ Owen Jannsen – 9th Grade, Evanston, Illinois