Mother Teresa once said, “I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love”. Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. I can share from my own experience that volunteering strengthens and leads communities into healing environments following a disaster. Volunteering offers a capacity, a teaching environment, for the greater good of co-existence and positive change emerge. I will now share my story of love, healing and a vision for community building.
My loss began with a near fatal accident. I lost hope and gave up on faith, dreams and my volunteer work. During my recovery, I lost my home after a five year battle with my mortgage company, and a few family and friends abandoned me. Only then do you discover who is really willing to support you.
Sometimes disaster and loss force you into a new journey. After my accident, I knew I had to heal, I had to lift myself up by my bootstraps and take the love I had inside of me for my sons and move forward. And I did. I enrolled into classes at my junior college and with exceptional support from many of my instructors, I graduated with my Associates Degree in Humanities and the Fine Arts.
Soon after graduating I was forced to move away from my roots in Sonoma County, because I could no longer afford the cost of living there.
After settling in my new home and community last winter, I started to feel isolated culturally and spiritually. I felt like something was missing in my new start until an unfortunate event happened in my neighborhood that linked me to the missing puzzle.
Firemen and volunteers showed up to assist at a house fire down the street. That’s It! It struck me that volunteering was missing from my life and that was my link to building community.
In the past I had worked with community based volunteer projects. I went online and found North Coast Opportunities, NCO, I felt that my previous training with Red Cross in disaster work, the crises work in Solano County, my “Giving Tree Project”, and volunteer work at a Community and Family Service agency would be a good match for volunteering at NCO and even though I didn’t need all this past experience, it helped.
NCO put me to work right away supporting Valley Fire Survivors. After my first week listening to disaster stories and doing case work, I felt that this was my calling. I felt connected to community again, but most important, I no longer felt isolated, separated or alone. I was an active member of my new community!
Because of my experience after my accident, I know that Isolation, loss and hopelessness can seem overwhelming and impossible to escape from. Sometimes you feel like you’re waking up from a bad dream and months later after the loss, post trauma or delayed reaction can consume your already challenged mental state. If you allow it, isolation and despair can become your new friends.
When we gather and exchange information and ideas by networking together, it allows us to heal, regrow, recover and repair and you may be surprised and inspired by some of your neighbors survival stories. Conversation opens up avenues for shared experiences and ways people are helping one another. It allows you to discover your strengths and see your not alone.
Disaster and loss is overwhelming and it does not choose when, where or who it happens to. This is why volunteers like you and I are needed to help before, during and long after the disaster has passed. Volunteer agencies like NCO gather resources and referrals to help you pick up those pieces.
There are many ways to volunteer and contribute to our community. The support that is needed can range from donations, rebuilding to replanting. You can also foster animals or adopt a kitten that was a result of the Valley Fire Disaster. My partner and I did, and they have brought much joy to our lives.
Volunteering also has personal benefits like adding experience to your job resumes and your self esteem. Not only that, but it also is a key factor to your spirituality and life by making it a part of your daily or weekly routine. The men and women I volunteer with are truly amazing. It is like a family away from family. There’s is a sense of belonging and mutual support with your fellow volunteer and if you are volunteering, I want to say, “Thank you for strengthening our community”.
As President Obama once said, “We are the ones we have been waiting for”.
Celeste Santh Singh volunteers with North Coast Opportunities
