Recently I volunteered to read for kids at Bryant Elementary School and Shodair Children\u2019s Hospital here in Helena. \u00a0I personally never thought that I would be one day reading to a classroom full of kids, but I am\u00a0glad that I was able to. It\u2019s remarkable to me\u00a0how within\u00a06 months of my service term I was able to go from\u00a0just barely being able to speak in front of others to reading to a class full of kids not only once, but twice on two separate days in service for Martin Luther King Jr. Day (MLK).<\/p>\n
I went on to read alongside another VISTA on both occasions about Martin Luther King Jr.,\u00a0a man who was instrumental in helping get numerous important laws passed through Congress and promoting racial equity among U.S citizens. Since many of those events took place down South, with many events taking place\u00a0within Alabama, I was also able to mention additional information and neat facts that were\u00a0a little outside of what I was reading. I liked doing this because to me, it added some authenticity and stressed\u00a0the importance of what he had accomplished and fought for.<\/p>\n
It was an honor to read and speak about a man who not only left a huge impact on the United States, but also left a major impact on the state of Alabama that is still echoed today as I type this.<\/p>\n
At Bryant Elementary, I went on to not only read about him alongside\u00a0another VISTA, but also draw alongside the kids with the drawing assignment to be something related to unity and fairness. I didn\u2019t\u00a0finish my own drawing, but I got to see the work of the\u00a0kids which brought back some memories of the art fairs that were hosted when I was growing up.<\/p>\n
Later on at Shodair, I volunteered again for MLK Day to read about Martin Luther King Jr. to kids alongside another VISTA,\u00a0as well as present\u00a0footage from\u00a0his speeches. What was noticeable to me was Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s most famous speech, \u201cI Have a Dream,\u201d was listed to play last, which to me was historically significant because during the March on Washington in 1963 he was the among last to speak, being sixteenth out of eighteen other speakers that day in history. I felt that by having his most famous speech presented last, not only did it expose\u00a0the kids in the room to his other speeches that he had wrote but it was also a nice homage to that day in history.<\/p>\n
It was nice to be able to\u00a0volunteer because\u00a0I felt it gave the day more relevance\u00a0with me being an Alabama native speaking about one of the most important movements that had ever occurred within Alabama state history. The day\u00a0also served\u00a0as a reminder of what I and other\u00a0VISTAs can potentially accomplish with time and diligence, no matter where we are located and even after our service terms are over.<\/p>\n
I hope that one day after my service term is done, I can speak and be a leader in fighting poverty, just as Martin Luther King Jr. was a leader in the fight against poverty.<\/p>\n
Steven Mann Recently I volunteered to read for kids at Bryant Elementary School and Shodair Children\u2019s Hospital here in Helena. \u00a0I personally never thought that I would be one day reading to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nPRC AmeriCorps VISTA serving with Montana No Kid Hungry
\nHelena, MT<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"