Spending a day in the service of fellow men - Community Service Day 2019 in Dubrovnik
By Tetiana Kulbaka
April 9, 2019
Aren't we all impatiently waiting for Friday evenings and
sweet Saturday mornings, when we can justly stop bothering about studying and
work? Yeah, we all know this feeling. But what if I tell you that instead of
casual Friday going out with your friends or simply staying at home in the
company of a good movie, you have to spend one-hour shopping, four hours
cooking and then one more hour cleaning? To make matters worse, you will have
to wake up at 7 am the next morning and dedicate an additional seven hours of
your Saturday free time. If at this point you start questioning the motives the
people who lived through this scenario were driven by, I will not dawdle on the
answer.
As Bryant McGill said: "No time is better spent than
that spent in the service of your fellow men". So, on Saturday, March 30, the group of
volunteers from RIT Croatia together with Professor Milena Kuznin and Professor
Kevin Walker had the opportunity to serve the volunteers as well as the kids
from the organization "Udruga Bonsai". It was a really successful
event, but I would like to share more information revealing the preparation
process.
To begin with, we started working on the organizational
process for this event almost a month before the actual event. And it is not
surprising, as far as there were so many aspects requiring thorough thinking:
the quantity of the guests, the type of the meal, the menu, and the activities
and, for sure, the responsibilities of the volunteers. What I liked,
personally, the most is the fact, that, even though the event was more service
oriented, both HTM as well IT students got a chance to take the active part in
it. And, well, they did prove to us once again, how important it is to keep
abreast of the technological advances. They managed to create colorful posters
and invitations, using all of the skills and knowledge they had acquired during
their classes.
Moreover, we had a team of chefs with Professor Kevin Walker
as their team leader. In the course of the regular Friday meetings, we decided
to serve brunch and treat our guests to American pancakes and waffles. As far
as we were organizing an event connected to food serving, we created a survey
to ensure that the kids as well as volunteers have no allergies and can enjoy
our menu to the fullest. The survey also helped us to figure out some of our
guests` preferences: no wonder, Nutella turned out to be the most desired
topping . The kids were also offered the fruit salad and a variety of juices.
The RIT Croatia also offered its rooms as the venue for the volunteers to hold
the regular Saturday tutoring sessions.
In addition, we decided to take advantage of the nice
weather, that Dubrovnik presented us with on that day, and had some fun with
kids in the park "Gradac". One of our students, Lovro Kolanović, organized
the "Scavenger Hunt" game and he did approach the task in a creative
way, providing the kids with the rhyming hints. But even more importantly, all
of the kids were provided with a gift, so that they did not feel upset for not
becoming the first in the game!
All in all, we can conclude that Community Service Day 2019
went successfully and both guests and students had a lot of fun, managed to
establish new connections and even became friends with some of the kids. We did
try to be professional and take care of each and every detail that is why we
even conducted the post-survey. I am proud to say that we got only positive
feedback and the organization "Udruga Bonsai" is ready to cooperate
with RIT Croatia in future projects.
But, for me, the most sincere feedback was the real reaction
of kids: they were laughing and smiling at each other, chatting with
Professors, enjoying food and playing games. One of our guests, Saško (aged 12,
going on 13) commented on the event: "This is like being at the Harry
Potter's movie! My dreams have come true! And it is all because of YOU!"
These sincere comments make me really eager to participate in events like
Community Service Day and realize each and every day how lucky I am to be a
part of this Happiness Business!
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