Brent Haines "Make it Happen" Scholarship

Philanthropy has always been a huge part of my life. It has always been important to me to help people who are less fortunate than myself. In the 7th grade, my mom and I joined a group called National Charity League. This group was filled with mothers and daughters who shared the same values as my mom and I. Soon after joining my mom and I set a goal for us, to earn at least 25 hours of community service per year. This goal soon became a huge part of my life. My mom and I were able to accomplish our goal easily, and we had a lot of fun doing it. No matter how busy our schedules were, we always made time in our weeks to volunteer. Our favorite place to volunteer was at the FAM pantry located in San Clemente, California. We would sort food together in the mornings. In the afternoon, we would help people walk through the store and assist them with picking out groceries. I enjoyed spending this special time with my mom, and it made me feel good to know I was making an impact in the community. In my senior year of high school, my health started to decline. I started to feel weak all the time and would frequently see black when I stood up. I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with an eating disorder. My weight has become so low I now required strict refeeding or risk going to the hospital. My weeks were filled with doctors, therapy, and nutrition appointments. Most hours of the day I was either eating or thinking about eating. My motivation to do all the things I loved decreased, including my love for philanthropy. It became harder for my mom and I to volunteer together. I could not make it to as many National Charity League meetings as I wanted to and this was hard for me. I knew I would not have time to volunteer for four hours at a time, but all my favorite philanthropies only had long volunteer options. I soon found out about the Mission Viejo Library. They take volunteers and volunteers are able to volunteer for as long as they would like. My mom and I started volunteering at the library in December of my senior year when I was still knee-deep in my recovery. Every chance I had, I would go to the library with my mom to clean books and color with the kids. It made me happy to have some normalcy in my life, and quality time together always made my mom happy. My mom and I were able to reach our goal of 25 hours, meaning we had accomplished our goal for seven years. We received special recognition at the National Charity League senior ceremony. I was proud of myself for making the goal happen, despite the setbacks brought on by my mental illness. I was able to learn and grow from this experience, carrying the lessons of time management I learned to college. My mom and I still look back on my senior year as our favorite year apart of the National Charity League. Although there were many tough times, there were many memories made and people helped.

I have always felt aggravated to help my community, my community mostly consists of Hispanic and Latino communities. My Community is one of the poorest and suffers in resources. During a time in my life, I volunteered at the community center. The Sister Evelyn Mourey Center is a center that its mission of the Sister Evelyn Mourey Center is to enhance the welfare of those who live in poverty in the Imperial Valley community, making every effort to improve their living condition by providing food, clothing, social services and skills to prepare them to obtain better jobs. The Sister Evelyn Mourey Center also provides access to healthy, diversified food to families in need. For many families, this means providing access not only to healthy and nutritious food, but also to health and nutrition education, fitness classes, and referrals to local service organizations to support the additional social work and well-being needs of the family. The Emergency Food Pantry serves more than 75 families each year, helping families support their nutritional needs and supplement their dietary health. Also, Sister Evelyn Mourey provides events of Food Distribution, I would be the lead volunteer and work from 9 am-2 pm, distributing food for those families in need. Was it a long time? Not getting paid? Yes, I love my community, I always participate in the Food Bank Community at Imperial Valley College, as well as helping out my community, I love the fun people you meet and the fun vibes and fun memories that one creates. You get to meet people who are also fond of helping out the community and who want a better and more loving community. Another event at the Sister Evelyn Mourey Center that I participated in and worked at during the holidays would provide a Thanksgiving Turkey giving event. As a volunteer, I would provide various occupancies, such as helping to make food and handle food as well as keeping the organization of our event, leading and managing the event. What this event concurred of is that it would organize the event for motorcyclists that would each bring a turkey and we would hand out plates of thanksgiving food and enjoy a while feeding the community. Another event in which I participated is that we provide support classes in Sister Evelyn Mourey Center, such as citizenship classes, computer classes, baking classes, and English as a second language. All of these classes I have participated at and volunteered at.