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VOLUNTEERING

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller

For Young Adult/ Youth Group

By Sarasi Jayaratne

I am writing this post with my interest in volunteering for the Hospital Services Council of Greater Washington Area (HSCGWA) by providing donations such as medical supplies and equipment as well as over-the-counter supplementary medications to poverty stricken patients living in the developing nations. I would love the opportunity to motivate the Young Adults/ Youth Group in HSCGWA with my past experience in volunteering.

The first time I had the opportunity to help others was when I was in middle school when Hurricane Katrina in the United States. At that time, I was a Girl Scout, which provided me the support and collaborative work of other girls to help the victims by raising food, clothes and money with my troop. Just after that event, another disaster occurred on the other side of the world when an earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean killed more than 230,000 people across 14 countries, including Sri Lanka. Seeing kids my age struggling for basic necessities such as food and water not only saddened me but motivated me to make a difference, whether big or small.

What originally started as service work for the disaster relief turned into an even bigger mission. I wanted to help poor children in Sri Lankan rural villages with English reading by providing Children's reading books. For that reason, I established a charity called "Keep Reading Foundation". (www.keepread.org)

I worked so hard to collect books. I went from house to house and library to library and made presentations in elementary schools in my community. I donated nearly 20,000 books to Sri Lankan rural schools. I traveled to Sri Lanka six times and stayed in rural villages during summer holidays and helped kids with English reading, writing and computers. Also, I personally conducted English classes for younger kids, teaching them basic sentences and words. These are just a few programs I volunteered for. I am certain that my volunteer service and experience was the pathway to my current career choice of serving people.

I am eager to meet new challenges and find ways to help others more. I am ready to learn and would be very grateful if you join with me and contribute your volunteer time to HSCGWA. (www.hscgwa.org)

A positive response to my request from each and every Young Adult/Youth group member in our community is greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, please contact me via e-mail (sarasijay@gmail.com). I look forward to hearing from you.