Monday, December 6, 2010

Service

I am thrilled to officially announce that I, Lillie Richard, am the new vice president of Foundation for Delta Gamma Fraternity on the campus of San Jose State University.

My new role in Delta Gamma is to provide exciting and moving opportunities for my sorority sisters to participate in for community service. As required by Delta Gamma's Executive Offices (overseeing all collegiate chapters in the United States) each member must complete at least five hours of community service an academic semester.

To me, this number seems diminutive. However, I have been advised by my predecessor that motivating the women to complete all five hours is more of a task than I had imagined.

This reality made me realize a fault (of many) of the generation that I am apart of. To hear that for some people, dedicating five hours out of their semester to another human being is unobtainable, is simply depressing. Once I officially grasp how that is possible, I will be dedicated to changing this shear laziness.

First, I will show to my peers how truly insignificant five hours of service is. In my opinion, this number should honestly be much higher. Nevertheless, I believe using a visual aid will help me make my point.

I will produce a poster with a large anchor displayed on it. (The anchor is the official symbol of the Fraternity)

When members begin completing hours, I will slowly fill in the anchor. This may or may not prove to be motivating, however it is one step towards my ultimate goal: showing that what is required is in reality, not that much.

Finally, over the upcoming semester break, I plan on researching all types of different modes of community service. I must provide opportunities that will direct the interest of all my sisters.

I am very excited to begin this new project. With this position, I am given much freedom, aside from the completion of hours, to come up with as many modes of service that I can fathom. This alone, gives me hope that my friends will no longer view this service as a requirement, but an honor.

subsidy: A subsidy (also known as a subvention) is a form of financial assistance paid to a business or economic sector.

bystander effect: The bystander effect or Genovese syndrome is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases where individuals do not offer help in an emergency situation when other people are present. The probability of help has in the past been thought to be inversely related to the number of bystanders; in other words, the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help.

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