volunteer felling

Community Service Project in MBMH - Final Paper

Conducting a Community Service Project was introduced as an assignment into MBMH fifteen years ago, as the result of extensive research demonstrating that personal health and wellness is supported through involvement with community and giving service to others. For this assignment you were required to complete 8 hours of community service during the semester, at one or more sites of your choosing. In this paper you will reflect on your community service experience.

IMPORTANT: In order to receive credit for your community service project you must submit a time sheet signed by your site supervisor, to your TA (check with your TA to see how they want you to do this); if you don’t submit a signed timesheet stating that you have completed 8 hours of community engaged service, we won’t be able to grade this paper and you will receive a zero (0) as your grade on this assignment for the semester.

· This Final Paper is structured in two parts (Part 1 and Part 2) described below.

· Respond to the below questions using 850 - 1500 words, double-spaced, 12 point Arial font

· Your paper is due by the date and time that appears on Blackboard

· Be sure to submit your paper by cutting and pasting it into Blackboard. Points will be taken off if you submit your paper as an attached file, unless you have worked this out with your TA

· You must also post this paper on Turnitin.

Part 1 – “What?” a) Describe the site(s) where you completed your community service. What is the mission of the group/organization/project?

b) Who does the group/organization/project serve (i.e. target population)?

c) Describe the target population: Where do they live? Age? Race/Ethnicity? Gender? Socio-economic status? Group Identity (i.e., students, farmers, housing residents, etc.)? How are you different or similar to the people you served, with regards to these descriptors? How did this difference/similarity your service?

d) Why did the group/organization/project need you to volunteer? Were they short on staff? If so, why? Is there no job position for the work you were doing? Do they rely on many volunteers? Why might this be? Is there a relationship between how the organization is structured, and how they are funded, etc.?

Part 2 – “So What?” a) Think back to the specific tasks you completed: how did they make a difference for the people and/or organization you served?

b) In what ways was the volunteer work that you did valuable/helpful to the community? In what ways could this work be more valuable/helpful to the community? c) Describe why involvement with community and giving service to others supports an individual’s health and wellness - include the Five Dimensions of Health and Wellness that we discussed throughout the semester in your response (physical, social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual)

d) Two things that I learned in implementing my community service project, that I may be able to use in the future, are...

e) Would you recommend that other students in future classes volunteer for the same service/organization you did? Why or why not?

Grading Criteria for this Final Paper This paper is worth 100 points. It will be graded according to the degree which:

· It demonstrates self-reflection understood as your feelings, thoughts and experiences in carrying out your CS project (50 points)

· Your responses to the questions are well-developed, with content that is specific and appropriate, and it follows the specified word count (45 points)

· Grammatical/spelling errors undermine the quality of the work (5 points)

· Timeliness – was your paper submitted on time? (15 points will be discounted for each 24 hour period after the deadline)