The Impact of Community Service Essay

Community service is one of many ways to help the surrounding community and make society a better place. There are many different forms of community service which include volunteering at local hospitals, churches, fire stations, clinics, and schools as well as other public or private organization within the community. Each task preformed at any of these establishments may help improve not only the economy of the society but help the performance of the organization. The efforts put forth to better the surroundings may benefit the host organization but the main reason to help is the eternal reward and the feeling of accomplishment towards others.

Community service is self gratifying act which is beneficial society.

Some have always asserted that it’s the government’s job to take care of people in need and others claim that private charitable organizations and individuals can shoulder the whole burden of helping those in need. These viewpoints have even entered American political debate. Both government and private assistance have their place.

Government assistance will continue only if voters firmly express their desires to see the continuance of particular programs.

Private assistance will continue only if enough of us ask ourselves, in our hearts, whether we can afford to give of ourselves. But I believe if people really cared about their community their would be no need for government involvement. People would donate their money to private organizations out of morality and for good of the community. Private organization should take over all community service programs so the government can focus on other issues that are more important.

Private assistance has done a great job in helping the community tremendously and government help is not needed. Eighty-six percent of Americans give to one or more charitable organizations (Sims 1). They represent all ages, incomes, occupations and education levels. Of the Americans that give donations to organizations, ninety percent of donations come from individuals and the remaining ten percent comes from foundations and corporations (Sims 1). While corporations and foundations may be the source of some big single donations. Corporations are more likely to give money if they know the community at large is also supportive of your efforts.

So as a community we need to have a voice and make Corporations across the United States give more to charitable organizations instead of trying to keep it for themselves. Another aspect of community service is the people which are the key to all resources such as money, goods, and services. People are needed whether it be persons giving their time free of charge, for a small fee, or for payment by a third party on a nonprofit’s behalf. If our communities would band together and give more free time for services then tremendous change could happen. This effort is bigger and more complex than we can imagine but is needed for the good of society and the planet.

Todays society has problems as well as any other time in our history. People today go homeless and starve, gangs form power structures and destroy communities through guns, drugs, and fear. Daily we see dramatic scenes of the very people who should be the lighthouses of community service. With all this turmoil why is their so little people doing any community service? I think people in todays society are self centered and want the government to take care of it. Everyone has an excuse of why they cant help, whether it be school, work, taking care of someone, sick, or just plain busy. But all of these are excuses and Im sure if an event such as a football game or going shopping at the mall or taking a vacation those excuses would disappear. Peoples thoughts of how they view the world need to change. We need to be a people that educates ourselves of poverty around the world and even in our own neighborhoods. It all starts with one person making a difference and showing by example.

Community service in its ideal form is a way of doing something positive for the community. I have had a personal experience recently in helping a group called the Butterfly Project at Moorpark College. This project is helping Palos Blue butterflies which were thought to be extinct for ten years but were recently found while constructing a new oil pipeline. Our English class was doing community service to help our essay and to have a better understanding of what community service is really about.

It opened my horizon to seeing the bigger picture for the reason of the butterfly project. They were not saving these butterflies because it looked pretty but because it pollinated the native plants of its habitat and that plant fed animals and other creature native to it. This is what we all have to realize about community service is that their is a bigger picture. We cant just be narrow minded and think that someone else will do it. If everyone had that attitude then no one would do anything and our planet would be destroyed by us. Helping the butterfly project not only helped the organization but it was also self gratifying to me that I was having a part in bettering myself and the community.

Community service is a positive way of making the community a better place for everyone. If we can approach community service, and raise the standard so maybe the everyday person can once again rise to the heroic levels that are so badly needed to turn around the world and make it better. People need to stop being so selfish and start learning to give up some worldly possessions and help others in need. Imagine a world where everyone gave up one hour a day to help a cause or someone? The world would be such a great place to live. Stop making excuses for yourself that you are busy. Everyone has time to help out they just choose not to because of an excuse. So stop making excuses and go out into your community and start helping make this world a better place.

Work Cited

Sims, Sandra. Why do people donate to charitable causes? 2007. 15 Apr. 2008.