Chase Storman

Through Cozy For A Cause I was able to develop my problem solving and critical thinking, Arts and crafts is not one of my strong suits and am not that creativity but having to work in a group with something I wasn’t comfortable with helped. From now on doing services and events I am not used to will help me get out my bubble and develop other skills. Before we started making blankets we had a presentation on who the blankets were going to, The Dorothy Day House. They are a long term shelter that provides housing for homeless families. It helped me realize that a lot of these shelters either don’t let families stay for long, only take certain genders, or charge families to stay. During the service I talked to a couple people within the EL Program I have never really gotten the chance to speak to. It was great seeing we had things in common and making new friends to do future service events with. Our service was making goodie baskets and blankets for those who were staying in the house. This will help keep the kids warm during this very cold winter, as well as providing goods that parents won’t have to spend their money on. I think that choosing these two things to make was a very good idea, because it allowed for creativity within the groups and allowed a fun little spin on it. So if I am being honest, I did not know how hard arts and crafts was. I don’t know if it was just because I am not used to it but cutting the fabric and having tie it and then stretch it out was very difficult for me. But with the help from my new friends it wasn’t too hard and we got the job done.

During my time working for the Memphis Dream Center, me and others were tasked with helping set up a Christmas store. Prior to this I would’ve liked to think that I am pretty well versed in this type of environment, seeing as I worked in a retail store for over a year. So when it came to things like helping families find whatever they were looking for and just helping set up the shop, I felt that this only broadened my soft skills, like communication and professionalism. It also was not just me that was helping out there were plenty of other volunteers there young and old. Working with them was a great experience and like I said while I think that my skills that come with working a store are pretty good, they can only be helped and developed more when you do it over and over again. Back home during the holidays me and my family usually make goodie boxes for the homeless with food, gloves, toys, socks, candy and etc. Working in that store kind of reminded me of how many people really need our help during the holiday season. I was glad that I could keep my family tradition going even though I am hundreds of miles away from home. The way that I look at it, if I am able to serve, help, and provide for people in need, it isn’t work. For me I see it as a blessing and that is beautiful to me. The mission of this organization is to assist families that are struggling with what they need. Whether that is groceries, how to handle their money, or finding a job. I feel that helping with this store accomplished their missioned and served their purpose. Like I said before helping people in need during the holidays directly aligns with my values and morals. Whether they are homeless or struggling I feel everybody is entitled to help if they need it.

During my service at the Memphis Dream Center, me and others were tasked with working in a warehouse and helping them organize and arranged goods for their upcoming drives and pop-ups. For me wanting to go into medicine, working in this warehouse helped me with my organizational and teamwork skills. These are both things that I will need in the future when it comes to medical school, residency, and actually practicing as a doctor. Along with time management, I had a lot going on this today and to be able to get it all done felt very good and made me feel very accomplished. Something I learned about the community is that there is always someone out there willing to do service, and that motivates me every time I do it. Whether I don't feel like waking up or don't feel like just going at all simply just thinking about the fact that there is someone out there while I'm not, it makes me pity myself, along with thinking about how many people can actually be benefitted by my help, it is overall just a great feeling when its all said and done. Building a relationship with this organization was a great experience because I plan to go back and help with them again. They were very organized and on top of their stuff, it made everything go by very easy. In the future I will definitely be working with them again seeing as how great their mission is and the love they have for those in need. One of the only challenges with this experience was honestly not really knowing anybody. Me and the person I went with were kind of split up. So when it came time to do the work you have to put yourself out there to form relationships and make these experiences memorable. That is still something that I have to work on in life.