The time I volunteered and it changed my life...

After lunch today, I plan to drop-off a few presents to a family affiliated with my program. This work-related errand has got me thinking about holiday volunteering. Truth be told, despite being an avid year-round volunteer, I hardly ever volunteer during the holidays. Why? It could be time, scheduling, or a surplus of philanthropists coming off the bench during this time of year. I volunteered occasionally during the holidays growing up but nothing major. But when I was a senior at Florida, I volunteered over Christmas and it changed my life. I just didn’t know it at the time.

During my last days at Florida, I participated in what is known as Florida Alternative Breaks, which is affiliated with Break Away, which was started at fellow-SEC sister school, Vanderbilt, in 1991. “Florida Alternative Breaks” is very popular among the do-gooder overachievers of the Gator nation and is affiliated with the inclusive Center for Leadership and Service.

Clearly, I felt it was important to be well-dressed while saving the world.

For my FAB trip, I ventured to Raleigh, North Carolina where I volunteered on a nutrition education and food insecurity program. While in Raleigh, we partnered with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, a Feeding America affiliate where we worked on local organic farms, packed goods, and distributed food to families and church parishes in the days before Christmas to Raleigh’s neediest.

I can’t do the whole trip justice in this post but it was amazing. If you ask my father, I did not think it was amazing at the time and it’s true. I called to complain multiple times about the cold (this was exactly one year before I moved to Chicago) and how I was sleeping on the floor a church.

I can still feel the impact of this trip as I now work at a non-profit. It has given me intangible skills that I still use to this day and has shaped the way I think about community programs and volunteering. I never thought that those five days in North Carolina would be so profound for me. But it is clearly a testament to the program. So, if you're lucky enough to still be at student at Florida- go on a FAB trip! I promise you, you won't regret it.