Helping Hands Around the World

Getting the Government out of Community Service

I Will Tell You The Truth About Community Services In The Next 60 Seconds.

We live in a time when we tend to look to the government to do a lot of things. For some reason, we tend to think that just because we have to pay taxes, it is our government’s job to fix everything that is broken and arrest anybody we don’t like. But if we can get a more rational view of what the government can do and moreover what it cannot do, we then can define what is local and should be handled by people in our own comity.

There are many projects that are just outside of what the government ought to be sticking their noses into. This is particularly true concerning the federal government. Too often, we push to the national level discussions and decisions about the quality of life in our own communities when no matter what the federal government does, nothing will make our communities a better place to live more than people coming together as neighbors to make it so.

A good example is the care of local parks and public areas. If we expect the government to pay a service that has no connection to our community to come in and make things right in the public spaces used by our children and that are important to our neighbors, we can be sure the job isn’t going to get done right. One of the reasons that there is a general disrespect for public gathering spaces is that people don’t see those spaces as part of their local community. If you think you are littering on yet another piece of government property, you won’t think twice about treating it with disrespect because it isn’t yours.

It really is a matter of ownership. When we get together as a community and put together community service projects, we are making a statement that this area of our neighborhood belongs to us, and it our job to make it nice. A great example of how this can work so well is a new phenomenon of the neighborhood swimming pool. As more public pools have to close, many neighborhoods are coming together, funding the land and construction and having a pool built for that neighborhood so everybody’s kids can have a place to swim.

Without fail, these kinds of community spaces are better-taken care of and even safer than the old public pools, run by the government, ever were. People are not as prone to leave them in a mess because these are your neighbors living next door to the pool. When young people are there swimming, it isn’t just the lifeguards watching out for their safety. The entire neighborhood is taking responsibility for the safety of those kids. And the result is a safer, cleaner, and better community space than could ever have happened if the government had built the pool.

Our local, state, and federal governments all have important jobs to do. We need them to make our streets safe to drive, to keep the lights on, to make sure jobs are coming to the state, and to keep our relationship with the rest of the world working well. When they do their jobs well, our lives improve because of it. But when the government gets in the middle of projects where they just don’t belong, the outcome is almost always a disaster. So, as a people living in a country run by the people, it is our job to make sure that we take care of the community service and we keep the government out of things that are none of their business and make sure they are doing what is their business. Everybody wins that way.

Helping Hands Around the World

When we think of community service, we almost always think in terms of our local community. And reaching out to those in your own town is truly the most dynamic type of community service. But there are dramatic examples of people who reached out beyond the city limits of where they lived to really make a difference in the lives of people around them.

Examples of ways that neighbors reached out to neighbors beyond their borders and out into the larger community of the nation can be found in youth outreach programs through local churches or community centers. Every year thousands of youth spread out all over the country to help those less fortunate than themselves. But there is one example of neighbor helping neighbor even past the borders of our country. This is an example of the government working hand in hand with citizens to extend helping hands worldwide. And that example of community service on a global scale is the Peace Corps.

The idea of the Peace Corps was the brainchild of dreamers during the 1960s, a decade where the youth of America were searching for self-definition. It took a dynamic leader like John F. Kennedy to take that vision and find a way to organize it into a government program that could capitalize on the energy, the goodwill, and the enthusiasm of youth to reach out to nations worldwide. The idea had gained sufficient momentum that it became an important part of Kennedy’s campaign for the presidency, so much so that when President Kennedy gave his inaugural speech, it was the Peace Corps he was talking about when he uttered those historic words…

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”

The Peace Corps has given tens of thousands of America’s youth the opportunity to become part of a large community service outreach where that opportunity may not have existed before. Since its inception in 1960, over 187,000 people have served in the Peace Corps.

If we take the time to reflect on the mission of the Peace Corps, it was truly an ambitious undertaking. The scope of this new federal agency was well summarized in the wording of the actual law that brought into being, which states that the Peace Corps was established…
“to promote world peace and friendship through a Peace Corps, which shall make available to interested countries and areas men and women of the United States qualified for service abroad and willing to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help the peoples of such countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained manpower.”
One wonders how the Peace Corps really is a way for a young person to ask what they can do for America in that it is an outreach to people in need all over the world. But in truth, efforts like the Peace Corps have done as much to promote democracy and to build goodwill between foreign nations and the United States as any official ambassador or formal meeting of heads of states could ever do.

The Peace Corps has build relationships between peoples at the local level. And it is when the citizens of nations around the world see the true hearts of Americans and that sense of trust and goodwill is built up between peoples that the goodwill that naturally happens on a Peace Corps outing begins to take root and change opinions on a national level about what America is really all about.

We can only hope that the Peace Corps continues to do its good work for many generations to come. The friendship it builds between people of all nationalities can go further to spread democracy and our way of life than any war can do. And in doing so, it fulfills the dream of President Kennedy that America’s youth would be more about helping others than their own ambitions and that this would be his legacy to America and indeed to all the world.

What are the disadvantages of community service?

1 Time Commitment. Depending on the type of work you’re doing, volunteering can be time-consuming. …

2 Lack of Pay. While volunteer or pro bono work can be emotionally rewarding, you’re not receiving any monetary compensation for your time. …

3 Personality Conflicts. …

4 Impact on Health. From https://classroom.synonym.com/disadvantages-volunteer-work-2250.html

How can community service help the community?

Volunteering is a great way to meet new people, especially if you are new to an area.

Volunteering also strengthens your ties to the community and broadens your support network, exposing you to people with common interests, neighborhood resources, and fun and fulfilling activities.

from: https://www.wcsu.edu/community-engagement/benefits-of-volunteering/

What are good community service ideas for college?

10 Community Service Ideas Start your own nonprofit. …

Make hygiene kits for the homeless. …

Create your own service project. …

Get involved with church-related activities. …

Run a workshop for your friends to teach them personal finance tips. …

Organize an event to raise money for charity. …

Volunteer at a food bank, food pantry, or soup kitchen.

From https://www.teenlife.com/blogs/10-community-service-ideas-college-bound-teens

Examples of great Community Services video review

 

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