As a parting note on my Volunteer Odyssey, I have to confess I am not a Memphis native. (Gasp!) Though I call myself a Memphian and I bleed blue through and through, I was born and raised elsewhere, only moving to Memphis to begin my adult life. I arrived here with eight suitcases and not knowing a soul, which sometimes shocks people. It shocks me! Often I’ve been asked, “Why Memphis and what made you stay in a city where you didn’t know anyone?” To the first question I always say, “Why not?” As for why I stayed, I think my Volunteer Odyssey helped me reconnect with that reason. I set out on this journey in hopes of finding ways to learn with my daughter through service to a city that stole my heart many moons ago. Along the way I made a lot of new friends, something I wasn’t expecting and the precise reason I stayed in Memphis… the community.

I knew before we began that Janie Kathryn and I wouldn’t be changing the world in a week.  We were just going to find ways to help people. The intrinsic rewards from volunteering in Memphis were rivaled only by the meaningful connections we made with people in our community. Each day of my Volunteer Odyssey put new people in my path, people who showed me and Janie Kathryn what it really means to serve our community. It’s true we didn’t change Memphis in a week. We didn’t “fix” anything. We just helped and met a lot of other people who do the same and THAT is how the community changes… how the world changes… and how Memphis changed us.

Thank you Volunteer Odyssey.