Hello to everyone reading this post. My name is Johnesha Harris and I am an AmeriCorps VISTA. My job for the next year is to help Volunteer Odyssey and University of Memphis improve their already amazing efforts of getting residents in the city and students on campus out volunteering.

I started my work helping with U of M’s Welcome Week Day of Service on Friday August 24, 2018. I, along with the other three AmeriCorps VISTAs, helped students get to their volunteer sites and went around taking pictures of the volunteers in action. We started the day with an hour of events: brunch in the University Center Ballroom followed by a few speakers to get the crowd up and ready to go out to their volunteer sites.

The rest of the day was reserved for service – 270 students and group leaders headed out to their selected volunteer locations. I got in on the volunteer action throughout the day. I personally got the chance to lead a group of students at the Leadership Preparatory Charter School volunteer site. We helped unpack laptops and iPads for the school’s new computer lab. Volunteers also worked at the St. Jude Hope House, Crosstown Concourse, Memphis Zoo, Bernal Smith Community Garden, and many other places across the Mid-South. There wasn’t an official end to the day, but leaders of each group were encouraged to talk with the volunteers about what they learned from spending time giving back to others.

While this work was beneficial to the community and students of University of Memphis, it has helped me get a head start on the work I have to do over the next year. I interacted with students to see how they found out about this opportunity, the steps they took to get involved and even got a few reactions from some about their overall feeling about volunteering. Each encounter I had was another step toward getting more people to volunteer in their communities.

If you are reading this I encourage you to get out and volunteer! The best way to start, if you haven’t already, is to pick events based on your personal interests and then head over to www.volunteercompass.com and get signed up. Also, if you would like to know more about myself and follow my year long journey with Volunteer Odyssey and University of Memphis check out my blog: www.yourcupofjojo.com.