During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people lost their sources of income, leading to an increase in the demand for food assistance. Food banks became the ultimate alternative as families and children attempted to avoid hunger. However, the selection of people who are eligible for food rations can be a challenge. For instance, there was a need to assess communities, households, income levels, and the severity of the need for assistance. Working with the community need assessment team from a local food bank, I was able to engage with diverse members of the community. Therefore, in this essay, I reflect on my role at the food bank and the gains I made from the placement experience as a form of civic engagement. [...]
Blog 1: Placement Experience at a Local Food Bank
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people lost their sources of income, leading to an increase in the demand for food assistance. Food banks became the ultimate alternative as families and children attempted to avoid hunger. However, the selection of people who are eligible for food rations can be a challenge. For instance, there was a need to assess communities, households, income levels, and the severity of the need for assistance. Working with the community need assessment team from a local food bank, I was able to engage with diverse members of the community. Therefore, in this essay, I reflect on my role at the food bank and the gains I made from the placement experience as a form of civic engagement.
Civic engagement refers to an activity where people collaborate in their role as citizens (Charry Roje, 2021). As one of the community needs assessors, I was tasked with conducting surveys and engaging the community on how the pandemic impacted their food assistance needs. I also prepared weekly reports on the people’s access to the food products that they needed. The experience I gained from this placement was important in several ways. The experience helped me to practice various aspects of civic engagement that I learned in class. For instance, the activities I was conducting were consistent with King's (2016) definition of civic engagement as a citizen’s participation in community life so as to improve other people’s conditions and shape the community’s future. As such, I viewed working at the local food bank as an incredible opportunity to contribute to the betterment and sustainability of communities.
My placement experience solidified my conviction that civic engagement is an important component of community service. According to Case (2020), civic engagement should focus on voluntary service to the local community. The experience helped me appreciate a person’s duty in embracing citizenship responsibility. For instance, I understood the value of active participation in volunteer service activities as they helped to strengthen community values. The lessons were consistent with Rademacher (2016), who highlighted that engagement in community service provided students with an opportunity to become active members of their community. Additionally, community service provided a lasting connection with the community as a whole. Moreover, the experience provided a platform for the development of life skills and knowledge that can help in serving others in the future. For example, communication and need assessment skills in the field apply to real-life situations. I will need to communicate better with clients in my future career.
While there were several lessons I could learn from the experience, there were also challenges that I endured. For instance, getting information from strangers was challenging as many people were reluctant to share information such as their incomes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, phone calls were the only way to engage with the targeted communities. The situation denied me an opportunity to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the community and their situation (Rademacher, 2016). Furthermore, I found it difficult to write weekly reports on my engagement with the people. Nevertheless, the experience prepared her to do better in the case of future engagements. Though working at a food bank can be challenging at times, it was an important experience for me as a student. In a nutshell, placement opportunities where students work with local communities are vital for their personal and professional development.
Blog 2: Lessons Learnt From My Placement at a Local Food Bank
Last year, I worked at a community food bank as part of my college education and professional development. Placement at the food bank exposed me to the effects of hunger on the community. It provided deeper insights into why civic engagement is an important skill in relation to my career. I understood that I could apply my passion for community development by helping other people facing different difficulties in their lives. In this essay, I share my experiences from the placement and how civic engagement is vital in addressing social problems in our communities.
Civic engagement encompasses an individual’s participation in collective action to positively impact the larger civil society (Charry Roje, 2021). In line with the placement experience, King (2016) defined civic engagement as active citizenship as it focused on the value of collaboration with others at different venues to impact the lives or behavior of others. In this case, civic engagement is about addressing community issues such as hunger through collaboration (Van Assen et al., 2020). At the food bank, I worked with others at the customer service desk. The clients included people who were in true need of help. At the desk, I realised that poverty was a major social issue that negatively impacted the lives of many people. Though the food bank provided food, it was a venue where one noted how poverty and hunger had become a struggle in many people’s lives. At the desk, we helped clients understand that it was fine to seek help, as some of them were ashamed. The customer service staff offered friendly support.
Apart from the customer service desk, I also worked in the sorting area for a month. During this deployment, I saw how the staff decided the food items that were in good condition for storage. The rest of the staff members were welcoming, and everyone was excellent at sorting the donations and stocking the store. The work at the sorting area was endless. Nonetheless, I enjoyed working at the customer service desk. As the front-line person, I was able to engage with clients, staff, donors, and other clients. I engaged with many people and talked to both donors and clients. Through these engagements, I learned the need for different members of the community to collaborate in addressing community problems (Van Assen et al., 2020). I noted that the community could achieve so much if everyone participated in efforts to address the problems.
The main challenge at this venue was dealing with diversity. While many studies focus on the outcomes of civic engagement, they often ignore the individual features and contextual conditions associated with such engagement (Van Assen et al., 2020). For example, theoretical knowledge does not prepare one to deal with demographic differences such as age, race, socio-economic status, immigration status, and gender, among others. There were also problems with social attitudes. Nevertheless, these challenges helped me to appreciate a sense of responsibility, a civic obligation, and empathy for others. Consistent with Case (2020), civic engagement prepares one to become an important participant in citizen activities. In sum, civic engagement activities such as working at a food bank are vital preparation for future careers.
Blog 3: Civic Engagement at a Local Food Bank
Civic engagement is a collective action. It is a deliberate way of invoking social activism and promoting service learning (Dunne, 2017). The goal of civic engagement is to bring social change that transcends traditional political approaches to service-learning. Placement experience is an example of a civic engagement activity that helps learners develop a sense of personal value within an experiential learning context (Zani & Guarino, 2019). The blog focuses on my placement experience at a local food bank and how it promotes civic engagement within the community.
During my placement at the food bank for four months, I worked in several departments, including client services, soup kitchen, sorting, and thrift store, among others. In these departments, I learnt the different functions of staff members at the food bank and the expectations of teamwork at every station. At the soup kitchen and client services, I had more one-on-one conversations with the clients. The meals prepared in the kitchen were nutritious and satisfying. While working in these two departments, I was able to nurture my political and civic knowledge and skills. This knowledge predicted the value of civic engagement (Zani & Guarino, 2019). For instance, the interviews with the clients motivated them to be more involved in community service. Understanding people’s needs and their motivations added to my knowledge of civic development processes.
The placement experience helped me appreciate other people’s beliefs, interests, concerns, and desires. According to Markwell et al. (2020), understanding other people’s needs and challenges inspires a person to actively participate in community activities. Additionally, recognizing the beliefs and interests of the clients could help structure civic opportunities and provide a platform for engaging with challenges. Being involved in the daily services of the food bank prepared me to lead interesting projects. For example, I led a project to survey clients. In this project, I chatted with clients and brainstormed with other staff members. I successfully led the project from establishing survey parameters and questions to conducting and evaluating the survey. Surveys with the client were important as they provided them with an opportunity to share their experiences. Fatima et al. (2018) explain that sharing could be empowering for people facing different challenges in their lives. In this regard, studies suggest that community service participants should develop a booklet that professionally guides their surveys. The book should include basic information and ways of staying healthy on a small budget.
The time at the food bank was characterized by numerous encounters with clients. They showed their appreciation for the food bank. However, there are cases where the clients are frustrated, ashamed, and stressed about their lives. These were the most challenging times for me, as I did not have the requisite skills to handle people's emotional problems. Nevertheless, I was happy with the choice of my placement as it assured me that this was an area of career progression I would pursue. I was passionate about helping others. In line with these experiences, Brooks and Youngson (2016) highlight that community service provides an opportunity to help the entire community. My experiences concurred with the studies' argument that community service could drive one’s drive to make a positive impact on the community. Besides improving my skills and knowledge in engaging with diverse groups of people, the placement entrenched my commitment to pursuing a career that involves active citizenship.
Blog 4: Learning civic engagement skills through placement at a local food bank
Civic engagement encompasses actions that are vital in making a difference in one’s community and promoting different skills, knowledge, and values that facilitate a positive impact (Dunne, 2017). Placement at the food bank was a perfect opportunity to engage in civic duty. Though I was apprehensive at the beginning, I found the staff at the food bank to be incredibly welcoming. Working at the food bank during the COVID-19 pandemic meant that there were unusually high numbers of clients as many people had lost their sources of income. In this case, it was a good opportunity to learn better engagement skills and improve professionally. This blog describes various experiences I had at the food bank.
Placement is a form of service learning and thus requires the learner to apply the course content. Markwell et al. (2020) attributed placement success to the application of course knowledge and skills, personal values, motivation, and commitment to the attainment of objectives. In the case of the food bank, community-based experience and research courses were important. Also, civic engagement pedagogy taps into the students’ values, which could help them succeed within a larger social landscape. Specifically, the food bank served around 150 people per day. The venue was doing fantastic work in providing food to the people during a very difficult period. The staff displayed generosity, empathy, and integrity in their service to the public. As a volunteer, I worked at different stations throughout the four-month placement period. At first, I helped with the sorting of the donated food before moving to other departments, such as customer service. Over the weekend, I joined other staff members at various food collection sites. At the collection sites, we met incredible people who taught us the value of community participation and teamwork.
[...]
- Quote paper
- Mourine Atsien (Author), 2022, Placement Experience Blogs, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1326037
-
-
-
-
Upload your own papers! Earn money and win an iPhone X. -
-
Upload your own papers! Earn money and win an iPhone X. -
-
Upload your own papers! Earn money and win an iPhone X. -
-
Upload your own papers! Earn money and win an iPhone X. -
-
Upload your own papers! Earn money and win an iPhone X.