breast cancer

I tend to volunteer for quite a few things and sometimes it feels like I do so much for others that I rarely focus on myself. I cannot help it though. I like helping other people. My parents raised my to think of others. I get the weirdest looks from people when I open the door for them or get something off the top shelf when they can’t quite reach. Unfortunately, people don’t teach children nowadays how to be kind and compassionate towards others. I was raised to treat others how I would like to be treated or better. I know I’ve written a little about some of the stuff that I volunteer for but I only barely scratched the surface.

I work at a community bank and have an obligation to give back to the community that we serve. Since I started working there in January 2009, I have logged over 80 hours of community service and I haven’t logged everything. We, as a bank, help with three charity events. The first is coming up on us fast. The California Waterfowl Association helps “the preservation, protection, and enhancement of California’s waterfowl resources, wetlands, and associated hunting heritage.” The second is the California Deer Association which helps to protect and improve California deer herds. I live in an area full of hunters, but both of these associations help the environment that makes up this area. They help protect our area from expanding too fast and we keep the wildlife around us. The third is the Junior Livestock Auction through 4-H and the FFA (Future Farmers of America). Last year was my first time helping with the Junior Livestock Auction and it was kind of a surreal experience knowing most of the animals that you are spending the night seeing, will be slaughtered a few days later.

The Eastern Sierra Breast Cancer Alliance Walk 2009

On top of helping with these for work, I volunteer in other things. I belong to the Calico Quilt Guild and we help a lot with the community and elsewhere. My mom is currently the president and I have been the historian for the Guild for about four years now. One of the big things that we help out with the call Quilts of Valor. We donate quilts that are given to soldiers who are wounded in battle. I also help out with Playhouse 395 as I have written about before. Playhouse is a wonderful thing for our community and you would never know that we have a lot of very talented people in Bishop.

One thing that I had wanted to do for the longest time was the Breast Cancer Awareness walk that is put on every October. In 2009, my mom and I were able to go on the walk. It just happened to fall on my mom’s birthday too. We have lost people to breast cancer and my grandmother to cervical cancer. We went on the 5k walk and it was great to see all of the people who joined us for a good cause. Most of us dressed in pink of course. Last year we were unable to make the walk due to scheduling conflicts. I hope this year we get to again.

I will end this post with a few pictures from the breast cancer walk from 2009. Please volunteer for anything that hits close to your heart. Helping others is a great thing to do. A selfless act goes a long way.