Building Tomorrow One Block at a Time
Volunteering is a great opportunity to connect with the community, to meet people from across the city, from all walks of life. On July 27th, we at Extreme Community Makeover (ECM) ‘got our hands dirty’ with the Rock Canyon High School Football Team in Denver’s Globeville community! I have participated in several volunteer programs and events but today was my first-time volunteering with ECM. I met some outstanding people both volunteers and neighbors who came together as a team. Everyone had a sense of purpose to help make our extended Denver community a better place to live. By the end of the day I felt a tremendous sense of pride and camaraderie with all the volunteers that gave their free time and worked so hard.
Highlight of the day:
The high school football team from Douglas County (upper-middle class) is from a different world then the Globeville community. The homes in Globeville were built in the 1900’s and it is a community mainly of lower income, working class families. One mom mentioned, “this is great for these kids to get away from their privileged lifestyle.” What I found fascinating is the Douglas County School District requires that all High School students complete 20 hours of community service before they graduate. With that being a requirement, it could have been easy for these student athletes to complain or do just enough to check ‘volunteerism’ off their list. It was quite the opposite. They kicked butt removing old fencing, moving rocks, and digging weeds. It was a hot sunny Saturday in Denver. No one complained, everyone worked hard. What an awesome program the Douglas County School District has implemented…
Abraham Lincoln, “The best way to protect the future is to create it.”
For some of the students I met today, it was their first-time volunteering and their first time visiting a lower-income neighborhood. I hope this experience planted seeds of knowledge and wisdom that they will use for a lifetime of creating a better world.
~Tyree, Communications Team