Cooper's Assessment essay

Cooper Feltes
February 9, 2010
English 8
Mr. Salsich

Alliance for Living:

Interaction With Others and Encouragement to Grow.

At Alliance for Living, an organization that helps people around south-eastern Connecticut with HIV/AIDS, I helped to feed people in need, brought smiles to faces, and grew as a person. Besides helping others, I had a lot of fun volunteering. During my visits, I benefited the organization, and benefited my experience bank as well. If I were to do this project again, Alliance for living would be the top of my list for many reasons.


I had to choose Alliance for Living because of all the differences from the other organizations. To me, working with people who have a life changing disease seemed more important than working at a homeless shelter. Having finished the project, it feels more accomplishing to me than I think it would if I had volunteered at a homeless shelter, like many of my classmates did. It is also a time in my life I will remember more clearly. It is surprising to me that I kept with this site after the first visit. When I walked in, after getting used to the unusual smell of the building, I was greeted by a staff of paid workers and volunteers. After my first visit, “I really [felt] like I had found a second family to join and work with” (visit #1journal)). Thinking about it afterwards, there is a big difference between what my classmates feel about the project and what I feel. At homeless shelters, animal shelters, and nursing homes, people and animals are there for a variety of different reasons. At Alliance for Living, however, the members are all there for the same reason. They have HIV/AIDS.


One of the main challenges of volunteering at AFL (Alliance for Living) was being social. An example of one of my social challenges was during a single visit. I walked in, and a man was sitting at the dining table. He did not say a word, “did not look over to see who was coming, and didn't even acknowledge my presence in the room (visit #4 journal)”. It was extremely strange and socially awkward. Another example of a social challenge was getting used to greeting people that I knew had AIDS. I got used to it though, knowing that it wasn’t contagious through everyday physical contact. They were after all “normal people (visit #2 journal)”. My last social challenge was talking and communicating with other volunteers and staff with ease. An example of this is sitting around a table, surrounded by people who identified themselves through conversation topic as homosexuals. In the dining room I sat in on a “bountiful and informal” (and extremely awkward) “conversation about homosexuality (visit #5 journal). These social challenges were surpassed by the last visit, and I know the things I learned will help me in the future


I know I put good into the minds and hearts of the volunteers and members. The volunteers were especially receptive of my positive attitude. An example of this is when Slim, a paid worker “asked me how old I was, I responded confidently with, ‘13’ and he just put his hand on his forehead in non-belief” (journal #3). For the rest of my visits, he brought up the topic of my age with a smile. I also brought joy to the members. The first few visits at least, I was at the reception desk, giving warm smiles and a welcoming “hello” whenever a member walked in. On Wednesdays, my positive attitude spread to the dining room, as I cheerfully gathered groceries for members.. Anyone who volunteers anywhere is helping the community. At AFL, we give a grocery to people with AIDS for no cost at all, which always brings a smile to their face. We also help members who have no home to find one that is fitting and affordable. Joy is a trademark at AFL.


During my time at AFL, I learned loads about HIV/AIDS. When I saw so many people with the disease in the same place at one time, I realized how staggering the statistics were in our state alone. I learned that Connecticut is one of the top ten states when it comes to amount of people infected with AIDS (AFL website). 21 people per 100,000 people in Connecticut are infected with HIV/AIDS, whereas the average for the U.S. is around 15 per 100,000 people(AFL website). Statistics are startling on a national scale as well. The U.S. alone has had around 1,051,875 people infected since the disease was first diagnosed in the country in 1981(CDC centers for disease control/prevention). Since then, 583,298 have died from causes related to HIV/AIDS. Outside of the United States, HIV/AIDS has spread much more wildly. Around 33 million people are living with HIV, and millions are living with it but don’t know it (Standard Chartered Bank AIDS education). It is estimated that there are 6,800 new infections every day, of which 15-24 year olds account for 45%. Statistics like these make me shiver in my seat.


It took a long time to find relations to AIDS or AFL in To Kill a Mockingbird. One example I found is the basket that was left on Atticus’s kitchen table filled with “hunks of slat pork, tomatoes, beans and even scuppernongs (Lee, 286)”. This reminded me of the resilience of the townspeople, much like the resilience of people with the disease. Even though they were poor, they found a way to give what they had, showing a deep respect, and moving on with their lives. The incident also reminds me of the disease’s effects on people. It makes people sick, but, like the townspeople, they find a way to live and contribute to society. The townspeople are poor, but they find a way to pull through. The Ewells live with so many lies. This reminds me of people that know they have the disease, but deny it, and then give the disease to their partner. Keeping that secret from your partner so they don’t leave you is very shallow to me, much like the Ewells are. Some people have no consideration of others, and use that characteristic to infect others with the disease. A deep mind was required to uncover these relations.


One thing I could have done differently during my visits was to be more social. Being more social with the members was the main thing I could have worked on .It would have been great to get a couple of stories from the members to make things more interesting for me. It also would have made the members feel more at home. I also could have worked together a little more with the other volunteers. At the beginning it felt really awkward to do so. I got more comfortable after a while, but I didn’t take advantage of my opportunities to start a conversation. I also could have had the courage to ask to do more so I wouldn’t have been “sitting at the reception desk (journal #3)” all day. It would have made my experience a little more rich. It also would have made it a little more fun and much more memorable. Sitting at reception, talking around a table, or helping to fill groceries, I am happy with what I did, and I’m sure they appreciated my help (Periodic sentence).


Going to AFL changed me as a person, and as a student. In our little city, there are more people with HIV than I was ever aware of. Many more people are in need than I expected as well. Seeing so many people in need of help was very surprising and startling. Before meeting people I knew had AIDS, the suffering of the people infected was almost invisible to me. You won’t be able to tell on the street, but there’s a good chance that you walk by someone with AIDS almost every week, or even every day. The vision of seeing the people who suffer in a concentrated space changed me. Another thing that helped me understand the disease was a man from CareNet pregnancy resource center. When he visited us during health classes, he presented the class with some startling facts about STDs. He visited us in the midst of the project, which was absolutely perfect timing. All the information and situations presented to me changed me as a person.


Over the past few weeks, I have experienced a lot. Alliance for Living has encouraged me to grow as a person, and shown me how to interact with strangers. It has shown me how to grow as a student as well, encouraging me to share my experiences and use them in a helpful way. This assessment project has been an overall benefit to my educational growth, and my growth as a human being.