Catherine Richards- Saint Susanna- Bishop Fenwick High School
Spring break. A time to party and have fun. But instead of tanning in Florida, I
took a trip to Cleveland to volunteer at the Salvation Army’s educational and living
facility for the underprivileged. When my cousin and I first arrived, I looked to my right
and saw buildings with shattered windows and graffiti on the walls. When I looked to my
left, I saw some homeless people down the street smoking. I immediately knew this was
not the “good” or “pretty” part of town, and I wanted to help change that. When we got
inside, a lady took us up to the family floor. She handed us visitor passes and said to
wear them at all times. Once unlocking the door to the kids’ room, she explained that
this was where all the kids would play and learn. Our job was to give the space a major
makeover! As I walked into to the room, I was surprised by the stuffiness and the smell.
The tan walls and tile floor had marker all over them. The room was separated into two
areas; one to play in and one in which to learn. We set all of our supplies into the
learning center and began the work of transforming this vital space. The first thing we
had to do was plan out what we were going to paint on each of the walls. We then split
into teams. My team swept the floors and used painters’ tape to edge the walls. We
divided up the walls into six different scenes: a castle, an underwater scene, a nature
setting, a house, a sky, and a beach. My team started on the underwater wall. Hours
passed and the room already started to look better. It was about 7 p.m. so we decided
to call it a night. When we got home, my aunt made us wash our clothes well and take
two showers because there were many bed bugs in the kids’ center.
The next morning we woke up early and left by 6:30 a.m. in order to be back at
the center by 7 a.m. My main job for day two was to work on the sky wall, painting the
clouds and sketching out an airplane. We stopped at 7 p.m. again and went home. We
washed our clothes, took our showers and went to bed tired but fulfilled. The next three
days were the same: wake up, work and paint all day, go home, shower twice, and then
head to bed. The satisfaction of seeing the amazing transformation take place
motivated me, and I couldn’t wait to finish the job!
It was then Saturday and that was the day the kids got to see the new and
renovated kids’ center that they could now call their own. We finished our last minute
touch-ups and notified the lady that the room was ready. With a cheerful voice she said
she would send up all of the kids. A few minutes later we heard a knock on the door and
voices on the other side. I took a deep breath as my aunt opened up the door. Gasps
and footsteps filled the room. “Wow!” and “Oh My Gosh!” and squeals of delight filled
the room. Huge grins and smiles were plastered on every child’s face. I will never forget
that moment; I returned the huge smile. I am so happy I helped these children. As I
watched the children walk around looking at everything, I couldn’t help but get a warm
feeling inside of me. I heard one child say that this was the best day ever. This made
me feel really good about myself because I helped another child feel happy, when
maybe their life isn’t always filled with happiness. After hugging and saying good bye to
the children, we took a tour of the rest of the facility. While we were touring the
cafeteria, I saw a man eating alone. I smiled and waved to him. He looked behind him to
see who I was waving to. He turned towards me again and I waved at him for the
second time. This time he smiled and waved back. As we walked out of the cafeteria, I
felt I had helped him in some way. Not in a big way, but I felt I made him feel special or
wanted for at least a brief moment. I realized many people don’t have a life as blessed
as mine. I think everyone should experience love and joy, and I want to bring that to as
many people as I can. The Salvation Army’s ministry is motivated by the love of God,
and I feel the love of God can motivate anyone to do anything, as it certainly motivates
me. The Salvation Army believes that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon
continued faith in Christ and repentance toward God.
Faith is very important to me and I believe if you have great faith, you will see
Jesus in others. I also believe you have to help others because they are also children
of God. It was fun painting walls, but the feeling of making all of those children happy
was 10 times better. Although I didn’t have “fun in the sun” on my spring vacation, I
definitely had fun with the “Son”, which is something much more important because I
was able to make a positive impact on others. For that I am so very grateful.
The painting in action!
The final product... the nature scene