I began volunteering regularly last October. Since I started my new habit, I have volunteered at after-school programs, food pantries, and at the Jersey Cares Winter Coat Drive. My passion is in tutoring grade school children and serving as a positive role model. I remember how after my first afternoon as a Homework Helper volunteer, I vowed to be there for the children every afternoon. At the time, I was only volunteering for Rauschenbusch Metro Ministries (RMM), a non-profit organization in Midtown Manhattan.
It was in February that I found the Jersey Cares website while browsing Serve.gov (a community service online resource). Seconds after finding the event posting for tutoring and mentoring at Hoboken's Jubilee Center, I signed up for every Monday evening occurrence through the remainder of the school year. That was quite a commitment that I made.
It was Mei Zheng of the Jersey Cares staff, who immediately noticed my commitment and encouraged me to become a Jersey Cares Project Coordinator, essentially a volunteer leader. I went ahead and became this leader and I assure you all that it was a painless process. I was accustomed to staying for the whole duration of an after-school program, typically from 3pm-6pm. I found it unsettling that the tutoring and mentoring event was only for the 6pm-7pm hour for those afternoons. I did ask the Jersey Cares staff for more hours to be posted for the location and Thomas Dougherty, the director of volunteer programs, stepped in to start additional programming support. I then proceeded to show up at the Jubilee Center every Monday and Friday at the start of the program at 2:30pm until 7:00pm when it closed. I was known for being the first volunteer to arrive and the last to leave. Between RMM and the Jubilee Center, I would volunteer every weekday afternoon, working with children. Being a college student with an occasional part-time job, I had a schedule that was just right for the amount of volunteer work I wanted to do.
I volunteer a lot of my time and many may be wondering why. I'll try to explain. My afternoons with the children serve as a tribute to a mother who every afternoon tirelessly tutored her neurologically impaired son, a five year old who was developmentally 2-3 years behind his classmates. Bad news heard from professionals would leave her in tears, but her indomitable spirit would persist. Years later the son would find himself amongst the gifted and talented students of his class. Yes; I am him and I whole-heartedly believe in the children's potential for academic success as my indefatigable mother did with me.
I kept up my current volunteer commitment and reached the end of the school year. After-school programming ended for the summer, but I would still get to help out with summer camp at the Jubilee. An awesome surprise came my way this past week. I received the honor of being offered a job as a counselor for the Jubilee Center. Craig Mainor, the program director for the Jubilee Center, has expressed his joy of having me join his staff for the summer season. I would have continued to volunteer there for the summer anyway, but I now view the compensation as being a reward. I will continue to do what I love the most. I would have never known about the Jubilee Center if Jersey Cares had not existed.
You can bet that I will be signing up for more projects through Jersey Cares. As I can attest to, there are boundless opportunities awaiting anyone who has a desire to help others.
Oliver Pavot,
Jersey Cares Volunteer
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