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What is the Reward of Community Service?

© Minnette Coleman

I just got back from a month of restful vacationing. No matter where I was in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut, I heard about the Bronx Baby Bombers and the 12 year old boy that pitched faster than most adults. All summer long I was bombarded with images of a child that, we now know, did not attend school in the 18 months that he lived in the United States, was actually 14 and too old to play in the Little League, and could hardly speak English. In his homeland, the Dominican Republic, youngsters stay out of school and play ball all day and night in hopes of becoming a major league players in the United States. For them it is a way out of the lack of jobs and poverty of that nation. Yet, the boy’s mother couldn’t get a visa to come to the states to see her son play and why- they were afraid that she would stay. Our government does not want to allow people from what they term third world countries in here unless they can contribute something such as a fast pitch. What does this have to do with community service you may ask. After being overwhelmed by Baby Bombers all summer I wondered about our country and our ability to teach our children what is good and valuable. They don’t see newspaper articles about young people helping out in their community- that doesn’t make the news. They see the results of youthful sports prominence, and singing and acting prodigies. As students grapple with how to pay for college and look for grants and scholarships, many of them will find websites for community service scholarships and decide that their meager efforts to help the elderly across the street a few times, singing at a retirement home once, or baby sitting the retarded child down the street makes them deserving of a four year scholarship for making a difference in their community. I know this to be a fact because each year as director of the Take Action Awards I get many e-mails from students who are trying to get a scholarship for the afore mentioned reasons. I also get letters from the deserving many who have been working in the community for years, but the truth of the matter is everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame, even if it is underserved. When we first publicized the Take Action Awards I couldn’t believe the number of cheerleaders who submitted applications with big photo albums. Their 500 word essay told me they were worthy of the $20,000 scholarship because they had put a smile on the face of their community. Then there was the teen who wrote that he deserved the scholarship because if he hadn’t been born there wouldn’t be a need for a scholarship fund for teens and that he should be given the money for just being here. There was also the essay from the mother of a young man who was too shy to submit an application. She told us how her son was an underachiever in school and would probably not be accepted at any college but deserved the scholarship prize anyway because he had “tried” to be a good kid.

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