Lizeth Auguilar

Being an AmeriCorps member has given me the opportunity to give back to my community. I have participated as an AmeriCorps member in various community projects such as the Hope Festival and the Martin Luther King Day of Service. It is important to be aware of the needs in our schools and communities to create constructive projects.

On Saturday October 22nd, 2016 our AmeriCorps group and students from SLC got together in the morning at Kino Stadium. We were all excited and ready to help. I remember getting there before the event started; a big line of people had already formed. I saw mothers and fathers with their children. There were also elderly people and young adults.

There were different areas to volunteer in. Clothing, toys, and shoes were some of the bigger areas. We all helped out with the distribution of shoes. My duties were to separate the shoes by size and gender. I also assisted in giving information to people. The rules were as follows: one assigned group of people at a time, five minutes per group, and a maximum of two pairs of shoes per person. Some of the shoes were used and old and some were in good shape; a small fraction of them were new. There were hardly any shoes for kids in grade school. It was really sad when I saw kids looking for shoes and not being able to find their size. A few children would get lucky and find a decent pair of sneakers, leaving with a smile on their face. Even though it was a used pair, they were grateful.

The Hope Festival was a big event for our community. The festival provided free dental care, medical, groceries, clothing, haircuts, diapers and personal hygiene items, as well as other services and programs for ongoing care.

There is so much need in Tucson and it is really important it is to donate and volunteer in these types of events. You can make a difference in someone’s life.

For Martin Luther King Day, our AmeriCorps group assisted with beautifying a local school in our community called Desert View High school. We picked up trash on the school grounds and also on the property near the school, making the area safer for students to walk. As a group, we worked together and got things done.

It was a great feeling because I attended Desert View High School myself. It was nice to go back and see my school again after all these years. AmeriCorps members know how important it is to be involved in our communities. This day of change and peace, in memory of Dr. King, was a reflective and productive day for us.

Each time we participate in events such as these, we make our community stronger. The collective power of team work really has the power to make a difference in the lives of people in the community. Through my AmeriCorps experiences, I have been able to personally affect others and I get a lot of satisfaction from that. AmeriCorps is a life-changing organization for its members and the communities they serve.