Reflection of Volunteer Orientation

             Step by Step is an organization housed in a local church in Lexington, KY. Step by Step serves single mothers ages 14-24 through programs such as goal-setting, different activities, life skills training, retreats, counseling, and prayer and spiritual guidance. Step by Step advocates by certain statements of faith, letting all mothers know that “Lost people matter to God, therefore they matter to us [Step by Step].”

             After attending orientation at Step by Step last Thursday, I learned a lot of really helpful skills that I think should be advertised to more than just a group of volunteers. You can see one of the activities we did and our schedule for the night below! The orientation consisted of learning different techniques to discipline children without touching the child or yelling the child. If I ever have kids, I know I will be using the skills that I learned from Step by Step to handle their behavior issues. One thing that I also learned that really touched my heart was that you don’t have to be a Christian to volunteer with this Christian organization. This meant a lot to me because I am not religiously affiliated, but I am still generally a good person; I want to help those who need it and be a leader in my community. Also, I think that by spending a lot of time with this organization, I will be able to find more out about religion, specifically Christianity. This is important to me because through this organization, I might be able to find a relationship with God.

I was actually very surprised to find out that this organization was religiously affiliated during orientation because there was no mention of that fact previously. If I had known, I honestly wouldn’t have put this organization down because I don’t want to offend any group’s beliefs. I put this organization down as the number one place I wanted to volunteer with because it is close to my dorm and I enjoy learning about the growth and development process of children (that’s my inner doctor speaking). In general, I just really enjoy helping people out and doing volunteer work, so I thought I would fit well into this organization. As I stated earlier, I was a little uncomfortable during volunteer orientation because of the group’s religious affiliation, but once Ms. Tanya came out and said that it was okay if we weren’t religious, I felt 200% more comfortable. It really opened my eyes as to how accepting Christians can be. Not only are they helping these mothers, but they are allowing me to be a part of that. I felt at home.

Now that I have already volunteered with this organization once, I just wanted to reiterate on how much I love it. I volunteered in the infant room with about 10 other girls my age. The girls were so easy to talk to and so relatable. This made me feel comfortable right away. Once the baby I was "assigned" to got to the room, I fell in love with him. He was so small and perfect and I now understand the saying "love at first sight." He was two months old. His fingers and toes were so small. He had the most beautiful gray/brown eyes and black curly hair. He fit perfectly into my arms. I spent the entire two and a half hours taking care of him. I changed him and fed him, and toward the end of the night I rocked him to sleep. This made me so excited for in the future when I have kids; I'm looking to adopt! I thought it would be different holding someone else's baby; I had always been nervous about adopting because I thought I would get caught up in the fact that "my child isn't technically mine" during the adoption process, but if I were able to take that sweet boy home and raise him on my own, I would. I just instantly felt connected with him, and I know I will be a loving mother whether my children are biologically mine or not.

             There is quite a bit of information about Step by Step posted on the internet; they have different educational websites and a Facebook page that is for the specific location I volunteer at in Lexington, KY. That page can be accessed by clicking on the first three words- "Step by Step"- at the beginning of this post. Both of the pictures shown below are copied from posts on the Facebook page. Step by Step does a pretty good job with updating their Facebook page. The only thing I would want differently is for Step by Step to post pictures taken of us volunteers taking care of the children last Thursday. I was told that they would be up today and to "keep my eyes peeled", but I still was unable to find them. 

This is a picture of the "Concentric Circles" activity. We did this in order to meet new people and talk about different aspects of ourselves. I am in the black dress with the rainbow tribal print on it!

This is a picture of our agenda for the night!