An unexpected opportunity arose in an unfortunate situation for senior Alysse Calabio after a tree fell on her house.
This past Halloween, during a tornado warning, a tree fell on the roof of Alysse’s kitchen. All of her neighbors were garnering support for her family and brought baked goods over to their house. One of the people who brought over food happened to be the director of an organization called Gilda’s Club, which provides emotional healthcare for those with cancer. The director and Alysse’s mom began to talk, and Alysse signed up to volunteer for a Halloween party hosted by this organization.
“They needed volunteers to help with the games and stuff like that,” Alysse said. “So [my mom] pushed my younger brother and I to go volunteer. I showed up in full costume dressed up as a pirate.”
Within the past few years, Alysse has begun to volunteer actively, doing various things, including cleaning up trash at the John Ball Zoo, interpreting for a deaf child, volunteering for Kids’ Food Basket, and more. Alysse’s mom has had a large impact on her volunteering philosophy; her mom has opened up many volunteering opportunities and has also helped to form Alysse’s passion for giving back through volunteer work.
Something that Alysse has learned from volunteering so often is that even if a certain issue does not affect you, it is still important to help others and make an impact on their lives. One example of this in her life is the deaf child she interprets for.
“I feel like being able to help people and my community is very important,” Alysse said. “ I feel like people can be very polarized, so I think it is important to help people in the little ways. At this church [youth group] for a deaf kid named Julian, I interpret for him. And then from these things, I talk to so many different types of people that I can learn from. [Volunteering] makes me aware that the world isn’t just surrounding me.”
Alysse has found many volunteer opportunities through her American Sign Language (ASL) teacher, Mrs. Anderson. She will post interpreting opportunities on her whiteboard, and Alysee was able to sign up for this thing called Sib Shop, where she helps to teach sign language to siblings of kids with disabilities in the hope of the kids going home and teaching their families. Because of her passion for volunteer work, Alysse has decided to incorporate that into her college plans; she is going to find more opportunities to interpret and teach others ASL.
Volunteering has helped guide Alysse in what she would like to do in the future. Because of all the experiences she has had—including helping plant trees— she was able to find her passion for the environment and people. She is planning on majoring in Environmental Studies which incorporates her passion for helping others and the environment.
“I love people, and I love the environment,” Alysse said. “I do a lot of cleanups and stuff like that. I found Environmental Studies [for a major], which is looking at the people aspect of the environment. I think that volunteering has guided me. I was able to experience different perspectives, and I found that the environmental one is just one that really stuck with me and that I find to be really important.”
Even if the results of volunteering are not always seen firsthand, Alysse still thinks that it is still important because no matter if it is seen or not, it will still have an impact on someone else’s life.
“I think that it’s important to help out those around you,” Alysse said. “Even if it feels like, when you’re volunteering, that it doesn’t really make a difference, just because you don’t see the impact that you’re making right away doesn’t mean that you’re not making a difference. I think that just the fact that people go out there and want to make a difference is amazing. It does really make a difference even if you don’t see it, and I think that totally makes it all worth it.”
