Volunteerism and Charity: Pathways Toward Authenticity

 

By: Rene R. Calandria

 

(Keynote Address delivered during the Annual Recognition of Volunteers for Fairfax County held at The Hyatt Hotel, Fairfax, Virginia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each one of us has our own unique way of giving back to the community. In whatever manner we do it, the sanctification of our action does not depend on how big our contribution is, rather in the words of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, “how much love we put into the act of giving.”

 

Pinoy Herald’s Feeding Program at Willston Community Center did not exist by accident and/or out of necessity for tax deduction purposes, rather, it was and it’s been a childhood existential passion that came to life more than five years ago.

 

As I was growing up, as early as six years old I was left everyday to care for my little sister who was then four years younger than me. Since my family is not privileged, neither a pantry of food nor cases of sodas nor a gallery of juices in the refrigerator is available. This experience has created a lasting imprint in my mind because I found myself helpless when I needed something to eat and drink. It made me realize that a single cookie is as important as a pan of cake or a shelf of donuts, that a sachet of Capri Sun orange juice is equally satisfying and quenching as a can of diet coke or a bottle of lemonade.

 

Our Feeding Program at Willston Community is (to say the least) a realization of my long desire not only to give back to the community who inspire me to dream and helped me to realize those dreams but also it is an answer to a “calling” to serve because it is in service that we all become an agent of change. It is in the service of our neighbor that we are able to conquer the “myth of Sisyphus” in the philosophy of Albert Camus.

 

As we started volunteering our time and resources, it is with the hope that we can create that window of change within the mindset of our own people. It is in the very act of volunteerism, that we turn despair into hope and hate into love.

 

More than five years ago, I started making some sandwiches on a weekly basis for St. Luke Catholic Church in McLean, Virginia that then delivers them to the Center for abused and battered women and children. The mission of my church for women immediately caught my attention because of my belief and advocacy on women empowerment and equality. As I tried to form my own Charity group, the phone operator accidentally directed me to Bailey’s Community Center who willingly accepted my gesture of service. I doubled the production of peanut butter/jelly sandwiches to accommodate my newly found community. While at Bailey’s, I met one of the most dedicated workers of the center, Alejandra Caballero, who would later on introduce me to the community at Willston and the rest is history.

 

Our experience and encounter with the community at the Center has been overwhelmingly encouraging, meaningful and satisfying. Every person, every child, every father and mother has a different story and their story is our inspiration and strength to move on. Every birthday, every Halloween, every Thanksgiving, every Christmas and New Year – every occasion and every single month has been personally joyful and existentially fulfilling.

 

As we move on to our fourth year of service, we are mostly delighted that our friends and supporters have always opened their hearts so we can have the traditional meal of turkey and mashed potato on Thanksgiving Day; so we can have a fancier meal during our Christmas get-together; so we can have Christmas baskets/gifts for every family; so we can have “treat or trick” on Halloween; so our children at Willston can have a birthday cake and blow a candle to make a wish. To these, we are truly grateful to them. Although, the rest of the months have been a personal initiative and effort by both my charity partner, Juliette Barredo and myself, we made a commitment that we will open our pockets if we have to because we cannot afford to abandon the community we have come to love and care for. During the recent Historic Tour of Old Town, Alexandria and a Garden Easter Brunch with some families at the Center, I am delighted that a family of runners will soon join me in my own personal advocacy towards healthy diet and fitness. A mother and a son and the whole family may not train for triathlon as I do but they are making an extra effort to run and adopt a healthy lifestyle. The whole family has just actually joined a 5k run that benefits an organization to stop child abuse. This year, I am hoping to attract more families because (I believe) a healthy family is a good component towards a strong and healthy community.

 

Sometimes there may be some instances when we run out of energy and enthusiasm to volunteer, but don’t despair because life is never meant to be an easy ride. The challenge of life lies not in its success and fall rather its beauty lies in how many times did we rise every time we fall. As it is often said, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Charity and volunteerism speak no boundaries, neither age nor gender and neither race nor profession. The very act of charity defines who we are because before we are doctors, or lawyers, or accountants, or plumbers, or carpenters or writers or waiters and bartenders or professors or engineers– we are first and foremost, a human person. And in that humanity, we are not only bound by the communal principle defined in every tribe, in every race and religion but we are connected both by our horizontal human/bodily existence and the vertical aspiration of our spirit. As volunteers, we do not only subscribe to the golden rule popularize by Confucius, a Chinese philosopher which says “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” but we embody the perfect example of the universal principle on “Love thy neighbor as yourself.” Martin Buber, a Jewish philosopher describes our relationship with others as an “I – Thou” existence. Our authentic existence is not in solitary or in isolation rather in relationship with our neighbors because it is in that relation where we actually answer and fulfill the nature/essence of our humanity, which is intrinsically good human beings as the Buddhist philosophy teaches us.

 

When we come into terms with our act of charity, we empower ourselves. It is in that empowerment that we empower our father and mother, our brothers

and sisters, our friends and neighbors and the list goes on because the power of charitable giving is contagious.

 

We did not exist as a tabula rasa, we are gifted with the spirit of charity and goodness and these virtues are intrinsic within the very fiber of our humanity because we are created and we share the image of the one who created us.

 

Now the choice is for us to make, as Shakespeare puts it: “Either to be or not to be.”