by: Miriam D., '14
Charles Wright Academy
Every year, Charles Wright Academy works with the Phoenix Housing Network to host Chapel Home. For one week, five homeless families move into the school's Bradshaw Chapel and spend time reading, working on homework, applying for jobs, and eating with CWA students, faculty, staff, and parents. Senior Miriam Donner explains how her experience connecting with Chapel Home children has impacted her.
Community service: voluntary work intended to help people in a particular area. That’s the technical definition, at least. In reality, it’s so much more than that, and through participating in the Chapel Home project at Charles Wright for the past three years, I have been lucky enough to experience the its true meaning firsthand.
When I first signed up to volunteer at Chapel Home, I had no idea what to expect. It’s common, when going into an unknown experience, to mentally invent certain expectations and ideas of what might be. However, what that following week turned out to be was beyond anything I could have imagined. It was quite astounding to see the chapel I’d been in before to take AP exams or to attend Christmas Eve service transformed into a makeshift shelter for parents and their families. Beds and dividers had been set up, as well as what resembled a kitchen—a refrigerator next to counters and shelves filled to overflowing with snacks.
Over the next week, the task was to play with the kids to give their stressed parents a break.
Each time I’ve participated in Chapel Home, I’ve ended the experience with a strong bond with each of the children. The first time, I especially connected with a little girl named Emily. “This is what I always imagined kids feel like at Christmas,” she told me. The freckle-faced 4-year-old with blonde curls squeezed my hand and smiled up at me, grateful for my company and companionship. Preparing and eating meals and playing with the children were fun, but nothing was more humbling than listening to what they had to say. No matter how young, each child had a story to tell and experiences to share. Over the next week, I spent my time not only providing entertainment, but also an ear that wanted to listen, and listen I did.
Whether the kids wanted a safe place to complain about getting reprimanded at school or to discuss more important topics such as their confusion over their homeless state—and even if parents just needed someone to confide in—I simply sat and listened. It is easy to stack canned foods on shelves and imagine how grateful the people benefiting from the food pantry would be, but hearing it firsthand? Well, I’m not sure it’s something I can adequately put into words.
I have always enjoyed helping people and tried my best to be selfless and giving. Whether it’s walking around and around a freezing track at two o’clock in the morning to raise money for cancer research, tutoring less fortunate children in New England, or merely stacking canned foods on dusty shelves, I have always been passionate about helping others while spreading love to the community that has helped to raise me, and I know it’s something I will continue for the rest of my life. However, I never could have imagined that passion, fostered during Chapel Home, would become such a major part of my life.