A Report of Community Engagement - Essay Example

A Report of Community Engagement Indiana A Report of Community Engagement As part of a community engagement project of which I took part in, I volunteered to help at a Relay for Life Event to help raise funds in the fight against cancer for the American Cancer Society. For this event, I was mostly doing volunteer work during the set up in preparation of the all night event. Also, for this event, I helped with some friends of mine to set up a little trivia party prior to the event. People could pay to play trivia prior to the event in order to help raise money for Relay for Life.

During my time at Indiana State University, this Relay for Life was my first ever. For anyone who has never experienced a Relay for Life event, it is an amazing event that allows for people to come together who have in some way been touched by cancer. There is not one single person who has not been somehow directly or indirectly been affected by cancer. This event allows for people to come in to celebrate the lives of the survivors who have fought cancer and to remember the loved ones who have lost the battle.

Money is raised for Relay for Life prior to the event and during it with all types of activities. In this case, I was a member of a team for Relay for Life and for each team, one person is supposed to walk around the track at all times during the 24 hour long event. By doing this event, I felt as if I was able to give back by both raising money and by contributing my time to help raise awareness about cancer. I participated in this event because I felt a tie to it and a need to feel the social responsibility.

Since cancer affects so many people that I have known in my lifetime, it only seemed like the best way to try to commemorate how they impacted my life, not just during their lives, but unfortunately, at the time of their deaths as well. There was not a single part of me that did not want to somehow give back. Though I could not take a lead role as committee member, I wanted to do what I could. By helping to host a trivia night game, we brought in people who wanted to have fun and raise money for a good cause.

It was very humbling at how generous others can be when they too feel socially responsible and have such a heartfelt connection to a disease that is so widespread across the world. I knew instantly that it was something that I wanted to take part of. I can remember when I was in high school, I had a friend who lived down the block from me whose mother had died of breast cancer and had had it in her lymph nodes. My friend, out of the blue, went to the doctor and found too that he had been diagnosed with cancer in his lymph node glands.

I know that he first reacted with fear and then he had to withdraw from school for a while in order to get treatment. It was only at that time that cancer had hit me that it could happen to anyone, that it was a terminal illness, and that there was no escaping it. The most amazing part of Relay for Life was that it was a time when a bunch of different groups of people with various backgrounds and ethnicities all came together for one reason. The collaboration with one another was just a way for everyone to support each other all for 24 hours.

It was somewhat difficult to keep going for the full 24 hours as there were other things that seemed like they should have been taking priority. However, when the luminary ceremony began and names of other people’s loved ones who had passed away or had fought cancer, it was difficult to not become overwhelmed by emotion. Though I am young now, I know that at any given point, I could also fall victim to cancer. This was just me giving myself for one entire day in hopes that someday, if I needed it, someone else would do it for me too and I will definitely do it again in the future.