Vinod's Blog
Hi, my name is Vinod Sardesai, and I am one of the members of the Hero Project. The reason I have started this project, is that I am a big supporter of our military, and I believe that the veterans deserve more respect and help than they actually get. As the veteran's association is government run, it isn't that effective in helping out veterans, so they rely on volunteers to help out in the hospitals. We wish to help by volunteering on service learning days, or on weekends from around 8 to 12 or 2 where we will help by doing manual work. We hope that we will be able to do something helpful during our time in service learning.
Day 1: The first thing we did was go to the VA hospital and report to the volunteering office. At the volunteering office, a nice gentleman help set us up with an appointment for orientation day and to get our TB shots. Personally, we were not able to help our community as much as we hoped to this service learning day as we still need to get our TB shots before we can actually volunteer. By next service learning day, we should be fine to volunteer.
Day 2: For me, I was surprised by how many volunteers, tended to be very quiet. I thought many of the patients would want to tell their stories, but most of them are very quiet and peaceful. I personally loved all of the volunteers that we worked with. All four volunteers I worked with, were actual veterans themselves. They all had great stories, and advice to share with me. They were all very helpful with what I needed to do. I originally was not sure how fast I should travel with the patients on the wheelchair, but with the advice of the volunteers, I was able to figure out what to do. My favorite part was spending time with the volunteers, and learning from them about the veteran and military community.
Day 3:
Day 2: For me, I was surprised by how many volunteers, tended to be very quiet. I thought many of the patients would want to tell their stories, but most of them are very quiet and peaceful. I personally loved all of the volunteers that we worked with. All four volunteers I worked with, were actual veterans themselves. They all had great stories, and advice to share with me. They were all very helpful with what I needed to do. I originally was not sure how fast I should travel with the patients on the wheelchair, but with the advice of the volunteers, I was able to figure out what to do. My favorite part was spending time with the volunteers, and learning from them about the veteran and military community.
Day 3:
On our second day of actually volunteering, there are a few stories I remember. I remember one of the volunteers Sarah, who told me how she has been volunteering for nearly a year now. I remember her telling me why she wanted to help out. I also remember one veteran who I helped push around. His name was Mr.Gonzales, and he wasn't the most cheerful fellow in the world. When I asked if he wanted to go outside, he did not make it clear if he did want to go or not, and since it was a nice day, I ended up taking him outside. He ended up not liking going outside as it was cold for him, so we ended up going back inside again. The most enjoyable part of my day, was talking with the veterans, whether it's the patients or the other volunteers, as they all have great stories to tell.
Day 4:
This day of volunteering was a very light day of work. This is because it was Valentine's Day. There seemed to be organizations of women who came and gave flowers and other goodies to different veterans, so the VA Hospital did not need to rely on its usual volunteers. The one veteran who I did help, I had to take to the radiation oncology which was on the other side of the hospital. During our walk, we talked about the annoyance of people who just pay attention to their phones, as while I was pushing the Veteran's wheelchair, people who were on their phones just kept on cutting us off. He told me his experiences of how people on skateboards who just go on the road, almost cost him his driver's licence. I then took the scenic route back to the volunteer waiting room, after dropping the veteran off at where he needed to go. The most enjoyable part of the day was talking with the other volunteers and learning about their experiences.
Day 5:
This day was a bit different than usual. Instead of going to the VA hospital as we usually do, we had to wait on campus until 10:15 when the Service Learning fair would start. At 10:15 the first few juniors came in, and asked a few questions in order to fill their chart. We wrote what they needed to fill out on the white board, so that way any future juniors who came into the room could just ask us for any details if they wanted. Since it wasn't required for students to go into every room, we did not get as many people that came into our room. There were some people that did seem interested, and I do hope they will continue on for next year. People stopped coming into the room around 10:50.
Day 4:
This day of volunteering was a very light day of work. This is because it was Valentine's Day. There seemed to be organizations of women who came and gave flowers and other goodies to different veterans, so the VA Hospital did not need to rely on its usual volunteers. The one veteran who I did help, I had to take to the radiation oncology which was on the other side of the hospital. During our walk, we talked about the annoyance of people who just pay attention to their phones, as while I was pushing the Veteran's wheelchair, people who were on their phones just kept on cutting us off. He told me his experiences of how people on skateboards who just go on the road, almost cost him his driver's licence. I then took the scenic route back to the volunteer waiting room, after dropping the veteran off at where he needed to go. The most enjoyable part of the day was talking with the other volunteers and learning about their experiences.
Day 5:
This day was a bit different than usual. Instead of going to the VA hospital as we usually do, we had to wait on campus until 10:15 when the Service Learning fair would start. At 10:15 the first few juniors came in, and asked a few questions in order to fill their chart. We wrote what they needed to fill out on the white board, so that way any future juniors who came into the room could just ask us for any details if they wanted. Since it wasn't required for students to go into every room, we did not get as many people that came into our room. There were some people that did seem interested, and I do hope they will continue on for next year. People stopped coming into the room around 10:50.
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