Sean

Thueson
Humanities 1100. MWF 9:00-9:50
April 7, 2017

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT ASSIGNMENT

PRE-REFLECTION:
Before you attend your event, you will write a 200-300 word, pre-reflection or
you may do this as a video or audio recording. Discuss what you anticipate this
experience will be like. What you think you will learn by participating? How you
think this activity will relate to the themes from this class? Do you anticipate any
obstacles, if so, how do you plan on overcoming them? Be specific.

I will be volunteering with the Murray Food Pantry in helping families who are in need of

assistance. Not only will I meet a diverse group of families during the day, but I hope to meet

volunteers who have helped at the Murray Food Pantry in the past to find out what it is that

drives them to continually help this organization and the families who benefit from it. I imagine

that there will be a lot of people that we will be helping. As a result, there will be plenty of work

which will keep me constantly on my feet and moving.

With these type of service organizations who help individuals and families that struggle

to meet necessary physical needs, I believe that I will see a glimpse of what these beneficiaries

are experiencing on a day to day basis. Obstacles that I usually have a hard time overcoming is

knowing what to do if my task has been completed and I therefore dont know what to do next.

If this does occur I need ask someone in charge what else I could do or help someone else who

may be behind.

This project relates to the theme discussed in class which is, Happiness and the Good

Life. Most of these individuals and families are seeking for happiness and the American dream.

However, due to circumstances that could be because of inequalities, they are in great need of
necessities to help them eventually pick themselves up and work towards finding greater

happiness. This experience will be a humbling teaching moment for me as I get to see what life

is like for others and see what they do to feel happy.

YOUR EXPERIENCE:
Following your activity, you will write a 600-700 word, paper on your activity.
Include the following:

1. What event did you choose for this activity? (Include place, date, time,
activity, etc.)

I volunteered at Murray Food Pantry on March 30th from 9:30-11:45. It is located behind the

Murray Park Church of Christ on 5300 South and about 500 East. As I arrived there I was

greeted by those who run the organization and placed at the end of the food line. I was

responsible for taking each familys food out in a cart and help them in putting it in their cars.

This was a unique opportunity, I met a lot of people with different backgrounds. Some have

been residents of Utah for years and either due to disability or other setbacks are not able to

financially buy enough food for themselves and their family. I also met mothers of different

races who were single and had three or four children that they had to support. There were a

few occasions where refugees came in for help. Although a majority could speak very little

English, many smiled and thanked me for my help as the food was put into their cars.

For the second half of this project, I was asked to help give the people their food. I was to

assist people who came for help by filling a box of food for them. We would go down a line with

them and give them a variety of options of food that they could choose from. After we would

give the box of food to other volunteers who would carry it out to their cars like I did at the

beginning of the project. In these two scenarios, I was happy to know that I played a role in
helping these individuals meet their basic needs as they strive, in very difficult circumstances,

to find happiness in their life.

2. With whom did you speak and what did you learn from them? Be specific.

I visited with the volunteers and some of the families that we served, but I spent most of my

time speaking with the minister of the church who hosts this event every week. He told me

about how new this organization is and that every month they distribute about 1,300 boxes of

food to families each month and since they only do this event once a month, about 325 families

come in on Thursdays to receive this donated food. As I spoke with him I learned that they do

this act of service because servicing others less fortunate than them is something that he and

his congregation believe is their Christian duty. Obviously, the minister and the volunteers dont

get monetary gain from this, but they find joy in serving others who are in desperate need of

help. He implied that the happiness they feel in serving is not a temporary pleasure but

provides lasting satisfaction.

3. What does civic engagement mean to you?

For me, civic engagement means being involved with a group of people who have a

common goal. I also believe that civic engagement involves more than being engaged with a

local neighborhood where residents know one another, but a larger diverse group of people

who have different backgrounds, upbringings, skills, etc. Civic engagement is when an

individual(s) are working to accomplish a common goal. Thus, when a group of people are

engaged civically, using their set of unique skills and contributions to help accomplish a

common goal.
 4. How did this assignment help you to be civically engaged? Be specific.

In the case of the Murray Food Pantry the volunteers that I was working with were diverse.

For example, one volunteer spoke Spanish and therefore helped the families who only spoke

Spanish. There was also an older volunteer who had been working for this organization since its

inception and thus was able to give the volunteers guidance and instruction of how to best help

these families. The minister who looks after his congregation and counsels them when they are

struggling, undoubtedly uses those same skills to help these families feel comfort and joy.

These are just a few examples of how our civic group engaged in working towards a common

goal, that of helping families in our local community.

5. Did you enjoy this experience? Why or why not?

Helping at the Murray Food Pantry was an experience that I thoroughly enjoyed. As with

any service project, I find that time spent helping others seems to benefit me more than it

benefits those I am serving. Service is a noteworthy experience that has a lasting impact on me

when compared to activities that provide entertainment but do not have a lasting impact. I find

that my time is better spent when I am helping to improve someone elses life rather than

focusing on my own.

6. Would you do it again? Why or why not?

I will do this again! I am planning on volunteering here on a more consistent basis as time

permits. I find that serving is a good use of time and gets me more involved with other people.

It is close to my home which makes it convenient. I often waste time because I dont have
meaningful activities planned. Serving here will help me avoid that and is a worthwhile activity.

There are many lessons that I can continue to learn as I serve other people.

7. How did it relate specifically to the course? (Please relate it directly to at

least one theme covered in class by using specific readings or other
relevant materials we have covered during the course. This last question
should be at least 250 words).

The work that is done by Murray Food Pantry volunteers correlates with the theme of

Happiness and the Good Life. After experiencing first-hand what goes on at the food pantry I

observed that this theme is applicable to both the volunteers and to the families served. In the

textbook, Sara Leslie, Carole Robin, and Jennifer Aaker make a statement that correlates with

this project. They state, Working for a larger purpose creates happiness and meaning. This is

why volunteer activities, caring for members of your family, supporting a charity, or working to

living up to your moral principals [sic] all feel so good. . . Eudemonia, or true happiness and

well-being, is the result of an active life governed by intrinsic meaning, self-sacrifice, and self-

improvement (Allen and Peterson, 2015, p. 826). As I considered my own attitude and

observed that of the other volunteers, I recognized that we all were happy. None of us found

service a burden and something that we had to do, instead, we forgot about our wants and

needs and focused on those who needed our help. We were happy because we sacrificed our

time to help improve the difficult situation of others in our community.

As for the families and individuals who came seeking help, I also recognized that some of

them appeared to be happy too. I often perceive those who are not wealthy enough to meet

their basic needs as sad individuals who rarely find happiness. In the textbook, however, a

statement shows that this assumption is wrong. It says, Stoics, in contrast believed that
material possessions and wealth were in no way required for happiness (Allen and Peterson,

2015, p. 826). Obviously, this statement isnt true for everyone with a low income, but I learned

that happiness can be found in even the hardest of times. The people who I served were happy

because they had friends at the organization, they had family members whom they loved, and

others just seemed to naturally look at the bright side of life. I learned that happiness isnt

confined to a set economic status. Happiness is found in being content with what you have

while always being hopeful for better days ahead. Happiness and the Good life is a state of

being and something worth working for.

POST-REFLECTION:
Either write or record yourself via video or audio giving an in-depth post-
reflection about this assignment by answering one of the following prompts:

Prompt 1: What did you learn by creating this signature assignment? Be

specific with respect to your work on the assignment and the
topics/skills/concepts you learned in the course. What problems or
obstacles did you encounter in completing the signature assignment? How
did you troubleshoot them, if you did? How did this activity specifically
relate to another course you have taken (or are currently taking) at SLCC?

As I served at the Murray Food Pantry, and now as I write this paper and consider these

questions, I have come to realize how there are lessons to be learned in any activity, in this case

service. As long as I think critically as to how this assignment relates to the topics that I am

learning in college, specifically Humanities, I can expand my opportunity to learn important life

lessons. For example, I enjoyed meeting other people and learning a little of their life story. In

class, we have been studying about different groups of people and their perspective on life. This

project gave me a first-hand experience with people with unique experience and perspectives
that I could learn from. Reading versus experiencing it personally helps to solidify the lessons

being taught.

As mentioned before, I was worried about running into an obstacle such as finishing a

task and not knowing what to do next. I set a goal to be responsible by asking someone in

charge what I could do to help or by looking for someone in need of help in case this situation

presented itself. However, I never ran into this obstacle as there were people constantly

needing help from me and those in charge made sure that I was busy.

This project reminded me of the Stress Management class that I took as concurrent

enrollment. In that class, I too had to do a service project with similar criteria to that of this

assignment. The lesson behind that assignment was that being engaged in service opportunities

in the community can help relieve stress. This time I focused on how people, including me, view

happiness and the good life while at the same time I was more relaxed because of what I had

learned in my Stress Management class. Overall this hands on assignment has given me a

greater sense of why it is important to have a knowledge of the humanities.

References:

Allen, P. and Peterson C. (2015) It Begins with Our Questions: The Humanities as a Call
to Action. Plymouth: Hayden-McNeil.