By Dannon Eubanks
Emerging Leader
University of Memphis

Volunteering at the Carpenter Art Garden in Memphis

As an Emerging Leader at the University of Memphis, volunteering is a requirement. It’s easy to involve yourself in something when your scholarship is dependent on it. What’s not so easy is to transition yourself from doing something as a chore to doing something because you got more out of it than just a signature. They say doing something for twenty-one days makes it become a habit, but I don’t think it takes twenty-one volunteer experiences for that to become a habit. It takes something much simpler yet not often enough grasped. All it takes to make a habit out of volunteering is heart. What I have found is that when you put love into serving, you get love out of it. You get out what you put in. With that being said, being a college athlete trying to find time to volunteer, no matter how much heart for serving I have, can be extremely difficult. I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done without the Volunteer Odyssey calendar this semester. I can sit down with my personal calendar and pull up the volunteer calendar and easily be able to tell what I am free to do. Along with that, I have access to contact information and details about the posted events. Because of the Volunteer Odyssey Calendar, I have had the blessing of working with the Carpenter Art Garden, the Dorothy Day House of Hospitality, Urban Bicycle Food Ministry and Jacob’s Well. These opportunities have not only helped me maintain my scholarship by fulfilling my hours, they have given me experiences I will never forget with people I never would have had the privilege to meet otherwise. I have been blessed not only by the calendar and the peace of mind it gives me, but also by every hour I have served. These hours don’t just go towards my scholarship, they go towards my life lessons. As Gandhi once said, “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Another great way to find yourself is with fellowship with others. Being able to experience these things with people I know and love makes it all the much better. I have recommended the Volunteer Odyssey Calendar to fellow Emerging Leaders who need the hours, to my peers who simply want to be more involved around Memphis, and to church organizations who want to spread God’s love by serving, All in all, no matter what the cause, the Volunteer Odyssey Calendar is a blessing to all those grateful enough to have found it.

Dannon Eubanks is a freshman Emerging Leader at the University of Memphis. She is a distance runner for the University of Memphis Track and Field team and an active participant in the school’s Presbyterian collegiate ministry UKirk. She is from Brownsville, TN.

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