Meet Cindy! She just celebrated her one year Manny Cantor Center Volunteeraversary in October! She has done so many things here, and is always offering a helping hand. We wanted to highlight Cindy and share with you all that she is doing.
Cindy is a regular lunch service volunteer at the Weinberg Senior Center, but she certainly doesn’t stop there. She has volunteered in a variety of roles, as an aid in taking blood pressure, an English conversation partner for those learning the language, helped with translation for older adults, and worked to organize our community arts studio. Is there anything Cindy can’t do?!
What made you want to volunteer in the first place? And what does Volunteering mean to you?
I live by myself here with no family in the U.S.; I came from Indonesia and have been living here for about 18 years. My education is limited; I didn’t have a degree here, so I joined a program that required me to do community service.
The name of the center is Educational Alliance so I thought I could come and learn a lot of things. And I have learned a lot of since being here, especially dealing with imperfections in the world. Learning how to deal in basic day to day human interactions, it’s not easy because we deal with a lot of different people, a variety of culture, race, religion, etc. It’s not always easy.
That’s why I started volunteering and I love it here, I can join a lot of things, I learn a lot of things, I have learned a lot of things that I can bring into my outside work, into caring for children and interacting with others that I can take out of this space.
Sometimes people say, why are you wasting your time volunteering, but we can learn such valuable things from giving our time. I have learned a lot here and I like it, and I have made a lot of friends. Before we expect, demand, and blame the world out there, why don’t we start to build up our own world to be a better one, become a good example to people in our life.
Sometimes you don’t see the result of your work right away, you don’t reap the rewards immediately, but they will come eventually.
One thing I have learned in life, that money cannot bring happiness, happiness comes from ourselves. There are a lot of broken things in the world, and sometimes we are lost but through volunteering we can find that purpose and give back and help heal.
Volunteers are integral to the work we do at Manny Cantor Center, our spotlight series provides an opportunity to share the stories of why community members volunteer, what they gain from the experience, and the impact they are able to make. Thank you to all who choose to come through our doors to help build the community we want to live in.
If you are interested in volunteering with us here at Manny Cantor Center, we have opportunities available for a variety of schedules and interests. Learn more about serving at MCC.
