Bowls of Hope- Margaret Beallis

Bowls of Hope-Margaret Beallis

BOWLS OF HOPE

I volunteered at a function called Bowls of Hope on February 21st 2012. Bowls of Hope is a function organized by Hope-coalition against domestic violence.  Hope is a non-profit organization that provides free, confidential services for those in need due to domestic violence. Hope also provides individual counseling, children's programs, emergency shelter, transitional housing, emergency transportation, prevention education in the community, and referrals. The event, Bowls of Hope was a function put together by volunteers in order to raise money for the Hope foundation in order to help victims and family members of domestic violence. Bowls of Hope raised money by hosting a soup dinner, raffling off baked goods, had a local band come and play, and the public could buy unique homemade bowls. Each person walked in, and purchased a ticket for $5 which allowed them a bowl of soup(which was donated by local restaurants in Charleston), bread, a drink, salad, vegetables, etc. 

While volunteering, I help set up the room which was located at a local church in Charleston, IL. I decorated the walls by hanging up tee shirts that people had made about domestic violence. I also set up tables for the guests with table cloths, place mats, and table settings which had various facts and statistics about domestic violence. After the room was set up, I then helped to prepare all of the food for the guests. After everything was set up and prepared I spent the remainder of my time serving soup to guests. When the event was done I helped clean up. 

This volunteer opportunity reflected concepts learned in several of my classes in FCS. I learned a lot about domestic violence and heard several people share their personal stories about domestic violence. Disadvantaged Families stresses the idea to "assume diversity" which I found to be really relevant in this experience because, I found myself surprised to see what domestic violence victims look like, they seemed so strong and confident so I was a little taken aback that they had been involved in domestic violence. Another reason assuming diversity was important was because during this event, you did not know who was involved in a domestic violent situation or who was there just to support the cause, so it was very important to just assume diversity. In Disadvantaged Families we also learned about domestic violence and have had many discussions about in various other FCS classes so I was aware of some of the statistics and knew some background information on the topic which helped me to emphatic, and not so ignorant about victims of domestic violence. 

I think the networking experience I gained from volunteering at Bowls of Hope was that I saw professors who are really passionate about helping others. A professor from another college was in charge of hosting and putting together Bowls of Hope, and she was really passionate about Bowls of Hope and inspiring to me. From meeting her, and working with her I realized how important it is to volunteer and to be passionate about something. I really enjoyed working with her and meeting people all had the similar interest in just helping out for a good cause.

The potential effect this service organization has on a community is that it brings people together in a community. This organization  brings the community together as a whole to bring domestic violence some awareness.  I think anytime the community comes together, only good can come of it. The turn out for Bowls of Hope was a success. The person in charge said the turn out was the best it has ever been since they started this function. I also think that since this function brought awareness to domestic violence, it will also be able to prevent domestic violence. Pamphlets, fliers, information booths, etc provided endless information about domestic violence, and how to get out of it, where to go, how to protect your family for it, etc. so I think Bowls of Hope can inspire people in a community to see the importance of domestic violence, become aware of signs of domestic violence, and know how to help, and prevent it from happening in the future. Overall, I just think when a community supports an organization it helps the community become stronger.

I honestly had a lot of fun volunteering at Bowls of Hope. Before volunteering I thought it was going to be really depressing and that I would have to see severely injured/ battered people, but in fact everyone was laughing, joking around and just there to have a good time. The professor who organized Bowls of Hope made this a fun experience. She was really funny and I really enjoyed volunteering here, and I enjoyed helping out for a good cause. I honestly think I will volunteer at Bowls of Hope or something similar again. I am so glad I got to do this, and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone. Being able to help an organization, provide information about something, and bring awareness to a problem while having fun at the same time is awesome. It was a blast! 


-Margaret Beallis