Month: June 2016

I’ve done a few volunteering activities in the past like going at the Boys And Girls Club or visiting the elderly people at Stoneybrook.

I never heard about the Starker Arts Garden For Education but, from what I heard, they supply 3-4 tons of organically-grown produce to agencies and families all over Corvallis. My expectations, no matter the roles, are to go out there and have fun while participating in making the difference in the community. I’m eager to learn how they grow their foods and I’m not nervous because my teamates and I will get the job done.

Following the volunteering activity at the Starker Arts Garden For Education, I felt really amazing and I was filled with joy. I had the opportunity to, with a few classmates of mine, practice weeding. Also I participated on doing  the mulching activity which was very physically demanding because I had to fill up the wheelbarrow with a huge amount of mulch. I had the feeling of satisfaction on account of me doing exactly what was asked of me. I’d definitely do this activity again because I like to make a difference in the community and lend a hand to people in general.

I visited the garden before with my family, but we did not do anything as a volunteer. The garden was very pretty because we visited the garden on the summer, and after we go back to home I went to the hospital because it was my last day in the pregnancy and my daughter was born in that day, so it was special day. Today we will help the visitors to have a beautiful garden by gardening the place to make it more pretty for any visitor to the place with my friends. When I was young I was very excited to do gardening with my mother in our home, so today I am looking for repeat that experience and I really excited. My expectation for today that it will be very interesting and happy day with my friends, and I want to help the community by gardening. Today I want to do some planting flowers in the garden will be very interesting for me. After I visited the garden it was an amazing day because it was my first time volunteering in garden. Me and my friends serve in the children garden, and it was very fun because while we were work in the garden we talked and laugh a lot. I am so happy to help in the garden because they help the community by give them crops from the garden for free, which is very helpful to know that I was one-day part of this. It was my pleasure to be a part of the volunteering, and it is very important to try this experience at least one time because it is gave me a pretty special feelings of helping others and help the community and make the change.

Ola Alrajih

June 28/2016

By Lincoln         June 7th, 2016

Before I went to the Stoneybrook Lodge, I checked some information online and learned that Stoneybrook Lodge is a company in the business of providing comfort, value and security to seniors. The pictures on their website show that the environment around the Lodge is very good. I hope those people who live there enjoy their lives. I prepared some questions about their living experience and some interesting stories they would like to share with us. I know seniors like sharing their experience and stories with young people, teaching us some theories from their past. To be honest, I wanted to ask some questions about the reasons why they choose to live in a senior apartment. In my opinion, living with their children or their families would be better than living alone in a senior apartment.

Taking place on May 17^th, the Stoneybrook volunteering experience was really warmhearted. We met at the parking lot and Dr. Cate drove us to the Stoneybrook Lodge. The environment was the same as shown in the picture; there is a fountain and several parterres. After we walked into the lobby, several seniors were waiting for us and welcoming us.  We were divided into three groups, and Marine and I were in the same group. Three seniors sat with us and shared their experience with us. One of the seniors named Tom asked Marine if she knew a doctor who lives in Thailand who is his friend’s son and who wrote a letter to him. Marine helped Tom to check online and make sure his friend’s son is still working in Thailand. That helped Tom to fulfill his wish.

Then we shared our experiences living in Corvallis and our lives in China and Thailand. Three seniors surprised me, that they all had been to China. They travelled to Shanghai, Beijing, Xi’an and Guilin. Tom still feels the Li River and the Karst features are amazing natural landscapes. Some of the seniors have the problems of hearing, so I needed to be louder to make sure they could get my ideas. The manager of Stoneybrook told me some seniors have health problems such as Alzheimers, so we should be more patient in order to take care of them.

After our conversation, I feel that even though these seniors have some health problems, their hair became silver, and they have hearing problems, they are still positive and confident. They delivered much positive energy to us. Thanks to them and thanks for this good opportunity.

 Written by: Abdulrahman Alabsi

Saudi Arabia

     Corvallis Boys and Girls Club is a place where they provide after school care for the families in Benton County. It is a non-profit organization that provides care for more than 10,000 K-12 students. Last Tuesday we visited The Boys and Girls Club. Before visiting we had to prepare for our visit. We wanted to provide activities that represent our culture and heritage. So, I decided to bring a black marker and colorful paper to introduce the children to the Arabic calligraphy. I wanted to show them something beautiful that they could enjoy and bring home to share with their parents. Moreover, my friend Mohammed decided to bring the traditional clothes of Saudi Arabia. We decided to work together to show them a side of our culture to pique their interest.

When we went there, they gave us vest and tables to prepare for the activities. Then, kids came to our room. At first they were curious, but still shy to talk with me. So, I began by asking them to teach me how to write their names in English, and when they do, I write their names in Arabic. They were impressed by the letter structure of the Arabic language. When they saw their names in Arabic, they wanted to writes their names in Arabic too. Something interesting I found was that they tried to copy their names from left to right, while Arabic is written from right to left. So I had to teach them more about the Arabic letters structure. Shortly after that, a girl named Tamara who is from Saudi Arabia came and decided to take my job. She was 12 years old and familiar with most of the activities, so I let her take my job. She wrote her friends names in Arabic and helped them practice writing their names in Arabic. After that,  I became jack of all trades. I drew a mustache for a kid named Eric, I thought a girl named Emmy how to play an Arabic game called territories, and I helped Tamara to write the Arabic alphabet in a sheet of paper because she wanted it give it our instructor Dr. Rachael Kate. In the end, we said goodbye to the kids and cleaned the room before leaving. I decided to write about this trips, because it was a truly beautiful experience, there is nothing like children curiosity about the world. Honestly, this trip reminded of my young sibling back home.

AVERY PARK

By : Wilson Christian Loga    From : Canada

By having the English through volunteering class , we had the chance to go to Avery Park for some volunteer work. I had never heard about Avery Park before due to the fact that I was new to Corvallis and Oregon State University. I lent a hand to the people that were in charge of keeping Avery Park clean year-round and I was looking forward to being out there with my classmates so we could make a difference. In all honesty, I was a little bit nervous because I didn’t know if I could get the job done perfectly. I enjoyed working in teams to make sure Avery Park stays clean when I left and I put smiles on people’s faces. Those were my expectations. I didn’t think about playing a specific role in my team. I went there to  accomplish the given tasks.

My experience at Avery Park was pretty awesome. I filled the wheelbarrow with a lot of mulch and I was in a group of 6 along with my classmates. My role was to fill in empty spaces on the ground with mulch by using a small rake and doing that with finesse. I felt good about mulching because Steve thoroughly explained to us what we were going to do. I thought I was the right person to do those tasks. I gained experience by doing the volunteer project because I helped by contributing to the flourishing of different type of roses that’s going to take place later on this year. I learned a lot about myself. I can be somebody that can volunteer with a group of people to make a difference in the community. I never imagined myself doing that type of activity unless I was getting paid. I wasn’t surprised about the volunteering experience because, even though it was my first time doing it, I’ve seen people do that type of activity.

The volunteering work was crucial so the roses could flourish later throughout the year. I’d definitely want to be a volunteer again because I can work in teams to do something positive for the nature or for people in general.

Avery Park is a public park where everyone can do a lot of activities such as enjoy watching the rose flower, play in the playground zone, and picnic under the huge trees. In fact, Avery Park is the park here in Corvallis that I love to hang out in with my friends the most. What I have known about this Park is a huge number of volunteers are participating to make this park organized. Also I have known the other services that we can get as visitors. I was looking forward to having this experience but I was wondering what kind of work we were going to do. I thought it would be kind of what we did in SAGE garden, which included weeding, mulching, making paths, and cleaning. I was sure that we were going to enjoy working over there, but I was hoping we would have pleasant weather in that day.

I was not feeling well in that day even though I enjoyed going there to help. It was one of the experiences that I liked. First, we started walking from INTO heading to the Avery Park. We were talking about general topics while we were walking which makes the walking more enjoyable. Second, we arrived at the parking and we looked for the guy who would guide us. Shortly he came and started telling us some information about the park and what we were going to do to keep the park healthier. Third, we split into two groups; the first group would do weeding while the second would do the mulching. I was with the second group who were taking the mulch in the wheelbarrow. And then we took little by little from the mulch to fill the small part that needs a little mulch to give a better appearance for the roses. Mr. Steven, who was helping us on the site, told us that the mulch comes from pruning some trees which I had never thought about it. In general, I enjoyed doing this work and I hope everyone will do something for the nature to keep our planet healthier.

Abdulrahman Alaql – Saudi Arabia

By : Abdulmalik Alhudaithy (Saudi Arabia)

On Tuesday May 17, 2016 we went to volunteer at Stoneybrook Lodge, which is a retirement community for the elders here in Corvallis city. The lodge provides health care and social activities for the seniors who need to be taken care of or prefer to stay with people who are active and close to each other. The lodge has many amenities, like coffee clubs, library, a swimming pool, movie nights, and trips and activities around the city. Volunteering at Stoneybrook Lodge was a great and fun experience. Sitting there and chatting with elders who had a lot of experience in life was very wonderful. I really enjoyed having a conversation with one of them who has been here in Corvallis for more that 35 years! He is originally from Portland, which is also called Stumptown, because first people who settled there cut all the trees and left them with their stumps, according to him.  We talked about almost everything, such as how he started his life in the army then went to the business school at University of Oregon. Then, he got married and moved to Utah to join a company, then finally settled here in Corvallis. And we also chatted about our cultures, and how we managed to adjust to live in a different culture than ours. The people in the lodge were very nice to us; they were very lovely and welcoming people. I really enjoyed my time there, and I hope to visit them again.