Briea Craft

How did your direct service benefit members of the broader community?

Working with Room in the Inn, and volunteering to help serve dinner gave me the opportunity to complete direct service to the community by serving those who are sheltered from experiencing homelessness and providing them with a nutritious dinner. In doing this, and serving the meals, it benefited members of the broader community, by providing them with a sort of stability and support with knowing they had a meal to eat, not only for dinner, but 2 more times a day as well. In addition, my interactions with those in the shelter also brought positive service, as I was able to bring them optimistic energy in their times of distress.

Describe your service.
If people-facing: Which population(s) did you serve? What was their reaction to you/your group being there?
If environmental: Which park/community did you serve? How do you think your service will benefit the plants/animals/people who utilize or reside in that area.

For my service, I worked with Room in the Inn, and served Dinner to both the Recuperative Care Center and Family Inn – both located inside the building. While I did not, prepare dinner, I did prepare the plates, silverware, and cups with the dinner and drinks to be placed out on the tables. I then went out and served the meals out to the families, and they didn’t have much of a reaction to me being there, as they seemed to focus on other things --- with many of them having very young children that they had to tend to. After the guests finish eating in the dining rooms, they go back out towards their room, and I, along with a couple other staff members, began to clean the dining room. After that, we then cleaned all the pots and pans used to cook the dinner, the plates, silverware, and cups.

3 additional reflection questions:
What skills did you develop or improve through your direct service?
Did your service align with your personal values and beliefs? If not, how did you handle any conflicting feelings?
How did your service contribute to the overall mission or goals of the organization or cause you were working with?

Working with Room in the Inn allows me to strengthen several of my skill sets, which will benefit me in future volunteer opportunities. One of these talents is being compassionate by putting others first, which is critical when it comes to giving for the community. Being self-serving also entails concentrating on the needs of others rather than your own, and I felt as if I was doing just that when serving dinner to the visitors at the Inn. My service at Room in the Inn was very consistent with my own principles when it came to helping my community. It also fit with the organization's aims, which are to create a warm and inviting atmosphere while serving full meals to individuals who are in the shelter due to homelessness.

How did your direct service benefit members of the broader community?

Working with Room in the Inn, and volunteering to help serve dinner gave me the opportunity to complete direct service to the community by serving those who are sheltered from experiencing homelessness and providing them with a nutritious dinner. In doing this, and serving the meals, it benefited members of the broader community, by providing them with a sort of stability and support with knowing they had a meal to eat, not only for dinner but 2 more times a day as well. In addition, my interactions with those in the shelter also brought positive service, as I was able to bring them optimistic energy in their times of distress.

Describe your service.
If people-facing: Which population(s) did you serve? What was their reaction to you/your group being there?
If environmental: Which park/community did you serve? How do you think your service will benefit the plants/animals/people who utilize or reside in that area.

For my service, I worked with Room in the Inn, and served Dinner to both the Recuperative Care Center and Family Inn – both located inside the building. While I did not, prepare dinner, I did prepare the plates, silverware, and cups with the dinner and drinks to be placed out on the tables. I then went out and served the meals out to the families, and they didn’t have much of a reaction to me being there, as they seemed to focus on other things --- with many of them having very young children that they had to tend to. After the guests finished eating in the dining rooms, they went back out towards their rooms, and I, along with a couple of other staff members, began to clean the dining room. After that, we then cleaned all the pots and pans used to cook the dinner, the plates, silverware, and cups.

3 additional reflection questions:
What did you learn about the community or environment you served?
Did you work individually or as part of a team during your service?
How did that impact your experience? What impact do you think your service had on you personally?

While working at Room in the Inn, where I was responsible for serving dinner, I had the opportunity to get a deeper understanding of the Memphis community, particularly with regard to the area of homeless shelters. Since moving to this area, I have been able to see the impact on shelters for thsoe who experience homelessness and it seems that they are comparable to the shelters I had previously worked with in Atlanta. At Room in the Inn, I had the opportunity to interact with a number of visitors who were single moms who were raising many small children, the most of which were probably less than ten years old. As a part of my service, I collaborated with a few other people to provide assistance to them. This is because anything of this kind often requires the assistance of a group, particularly when it comes to the cleaning aspect. The whole dinner goes more quickly and without any hiccups when everyone works together as a team. My experiences with the visitors were greatly influenced by the interactions I had with them when I was helping. It was a nice feeling to be able to provide them with a meal because I was able to provide some form of empathy to their challenges and tiredness, and it made me feel like I was doing a tremendous service to them. Having the opportunity to work with individuals to whom I am giving assistance, particularly those who are in need, has motivated me to want to continue doing so.

How did your direct service benefit members of the broader community?Describe your service.
If people-facing:
Which population(s) did you serve? What was their reaction to you/your group being there?

I volunteered my time with St. James United Methodist Church to help prepare and distribute meals, interact with the children and youth. While out for spring break, school kids don't eat as many meals because they rely on school breakfast and lunch. So, as my service we provided them with lunch on the Monday-Friday of spring break so they had nutritious meals during the week. This day specifically we made ham and turkey sandwiches with a bag of chips and a capri sun or water. My service was people facing and the community I served was the youth (elementary-highschool children) in the city of Warrior, Alabama. The children always have great smiles on their faces when they receive the meals, and they are always so grateful for everything we provide.

3 additional reflection questions:
What skills did you develop or improve through your direct service?
How did your service contribute to the overall mission or goals of the organization or cause you were working with?
What impact do you think your service had on you personally?

The overall goal of the Summer Lunch Program for Children/Youth is to provide a nutritious meal to underprivileged children and youth in the community to address food insecurity and promote overall well being. My service contributed greatly as we were serving those who didn't have access to nutritious meals during the week of spring break. On a personal level, this service had a great impact on me, especially when I was able to interact with the children and talk to them how their spring break was going, and ask them if they were ready for summer. Even as they are underprivileged, they still managed to have smiles on their face which made me smile. A skill that I improved during this service was my communication. I typically struggle with starting conversation, however, here I managed to be open and connect to the youth on another level.

How did your direct service benefit members of the broader community?

Working with Room in the Inn, and volunteering to help serve dinner gave me the opportunity to complete direct service to the community by serving those who are sheltered from experiencing homelessness and providing them with a nutritious dinner. In doing this, and serving the meals, it benefited members of the broader community, by providing them with a sort of stability and support with knowing they had a meal to eat, not only for dinner, but 2 more times a day as well. In addition, my interactions with those in the shelter also brought positive service, as I was able to bring them optimistic energy in their times of distress.

Describe your service.
If people-facing: Which population(s) did you serve? What was their reaction to you/your group being there?
If environmental: Which park/community did you serve? How do you think your service will benefit the plants/animals/people who utilize or reside in that area.

For my service, I worked with Room in the Inn, and served Dinner to both the Recuperative Care Center and Family Inn – both located inside the building. While I did not, prepare dinner, I did prepare the plates, silverware, and cups with the dinner and drinks to be placed out on the tables. I then went out and served the meals out to the families, and they didn’t have much of a reaction to me being there, as they seemed to focus on other things --- with many of them having very young children that they had to tend to. After the guests finish eating in the dining rooms, they go back out towards their room, and I, along with a couple other staff members, began to clean the dining room. After that, we then cleaned all the pots and pans used to cook the dinner, the plates, silverware, and cups.

3 additional reflection questions:
How did your service contribute to the overall mission or goals of the
organization or cause you were working with?
Did you work individually or as part of a team during your service? How did that
impact your experience?
What impact do you think your service had on you personally?

While working with Room in the Inn, I served on a small team. As our roles were to prepare dinner for the guests, there were about 5 of us that worked together to make plates and pass them out to them. I think working on the team allowed the process to flow better, as everyone had their own role. Yet, on a personal note this service placed an impact on me as I knew I was impacting someone else's life. I loved that I knew I was making a difference by providing meals to those that our less fortunate, which tied directly to the goals of Room in the Inn. Their mission is to offer a safe environment of hospitality to those who experience homelessness, and making those guests feel comfortable by providing them with wam, nutritious meals aligned directly to that goal.

How did your direct service benefit members of the broader community?

Working with Room in the Inn, and volunteering to help serve dinner gave me the opportunity to complete direct service to the community by serving those who are sheltered from experiencing homelessness and providing them with a nutritious dinner. In doing this, and serving the meals, it benefited members of the broader community, by providing them with a sort of stability and support with knowing they had a meal to eat, not only for dinner, but 2 more times a day as well. In addition, my interactions with those in the shelter also brought positive service, as I was able to bring them optimistic energy in their times of distress.

Describe your service.
If people-facing: Which population(s) did you serve? What was their reaction to you/your group being there?
If environmental: Which park/community did you serve? How do you think your service will benefit the plants/animals/people who utilize or reside in that area.

For my service, I worked with Room in the Inn, and served Dinner to both the Recuperative Care Center and Family Inn – both located inside the building. While I did not, prepare dinner, I did prepare the plates, silverware, and cups with the dinner and drinks to be placed out on the tables. I then went out and served the meals out to the families, and they didn’t have much of a reaction to me being there, as they seemed to focus on other things --- with many of them having very young children that they had to tend to. After the guests finish eating in the dining rooms, they go back out towards their room, and I, along with a couple other staff members, began to clean the dining room. After that, we then cleaned all the pots and pans used to cook the dinner, the plates, silverware, and cups.

3 additional reflection questions:
What skills did you develop or improve through your direct service?
Did your service align with your personal values and beliefs? If not, how did you
handle any conflicting feelings?
What did you learn about the community or environment you served?

My service with Room in the Inn fully aligned with my personal values of selflessness and serving others for the greater good. Further, I was able to develop these skills, in addition to learning additional ones that have to do with communicating and making those who I am serving feel comfortable. Through this service I was able to learn that there are many in the Memphis community that do not have a place to live. However, Room in the Inn is a place where they have a room over there head and sheets in their bed, and those with families are able to be there all together. While serving, it meant a lot to me that I was able to communicate with the children and parents, and make them feel like they were supported.