I came to realize the significance of supporting local community during my junior/senior rotation in high school when my classmates and I learned about globalization. A key takeaway was that a community’s culture, industry, and autonomy could be preserved through active support in local business and participation in grassroot organizations. Being raised in an island community (Martha’s Vineyard), it was easy to observe the long term benefit on the community’s well being following these practices. To this day, the local radio remains strong, the traditional Ag Fair has remained true to itself, the Black Dog logo is still version 1.0., and the population eats locally-sourced. 

While studying at Boston University, I stayed active in community service by assisting in the Student Food Rescue (SFR) an average of 5 hours/week. I appreciated the simplicity of the manual labor after long nights of studying Biomedical Engineering courseware. It replenished my spirit through its productivity and idyllic routes through the city (accompanied by radio music). During those hours each week I would become grounded again--away from a campus with 18,000 students. By graduation I had earned membership into the engineering honor society. 

After graduation and one year of working in engineering contract positions for medical companies I moved to NYC. I was 24 and had always yearned to live in an urban environment as I had no driver's license and enjoyed meeting different types of people. Initially I struggled adjusting--interactions were more impersonal and the consumer schemes more aggressive. However I eventually got settled and incorporated New York Cares into my schedule, whose projects helped me adjust by familiarizing me with the public transit and the city’s landmarks. 

My most productive period of time was the month of July (unemployed), in which I accrued 94.5 hours (37.65%) that month.  At the end of the month, I was informed that I qualified for a Presidential Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) as I had accrued 183 volunteer hours.  At the end of the year, I qualified for the 2019 Young Adult Gold PVSA (250+ hours).  

Every weekend I assisted at the NYC Common Pantry and St. Xaviers Soup Kitchen. Participating in projects like these helped me better understand NYC as a community’s charity is closely correlated with its cultural values. This is true as in my experience the projects (commonly addressing poverty and disadvantaged communities) contribute to maintaining the socio-economic peace and diversity of NYC.  

I appreciate the cultural acceptance of NYC, particularly having resided in Martha’s Vineyard (in which many have emigrated due to rising costs) and two state capitals (whose college graduates often emigrate due to the lack of entry level, higher skilled labor). Emigration is an issue as it can cause a community’s traditions to fade away and even become replaced overtime. Extended periods of emigration might decrease the cultural diversity of a community overtime as well. When goals are measured quantitatively (such as economy, quota, etc.), the rate of emigration is exacerbated. I feel that it is important to preserve diversity as it makes the community more adaptable to external changes and more innovative as there are more perspectives and ideas. An analogy: a diverse cultural population is a strong defense against propaganda and imbalanced power just as a diverse genetic pool is a strong defense against viruses and hereditary disease.

I became interested in joining Americorps shortly after submitting a letter of resignation to IDCTech/Siemens mid-September.  At that time I had felt burned out.  I knew I enjoyed assisting with NYCare projects and decided to look into a long-term project through Americorps. I felt I could make a difference: I had strong data processing skills (assisted in BU Zaman Molecular and Computational Dynamics laboratory throughout senior year), good record keeping and time management (secretarial/editor roles in team projects), industry experience in biomedical engineering roles, and conversational fluency in Spanish.

I interviewed for two projects, one under supervision of the Mayors Office of Immigration Affairs (MOIA) and another under supervision of the New York Department of Sanitation (DSNY).  I looked forward to improving my linguistics and Spanish through the outreach to underserved/minority communities.  On December 2nd I was offered placement into MASA's NYIC VISTA position.  After self evaluation on whether I would be able to fulfill the responsibilities of the position (contemporary motor difficulties) I came to the conclusion that I would still be a good collaborator as I had no impediments concerning speech and dexterity; I could still communicate, operate hardware, draft, and assist with outreach activities/projects. 

While job hunting in November, sporadic interviews led to several missed NYCares projects which suspended my NYCares account.  On November 27th I reactivated my account through reorientation and was warned that another suspension might deactivate my account.  On the weekends I continued assisting at projects that permitted walk-in self volunteers.  I resumed activity on the account in Mid-December 2019.

In 2020 I completed my training under Americorps and the New York Immigration Coalition in preparation to assist MASA with volunteer management and communications but my condition worsened and I had to resign at the end of February.  By then I had completed 186 hours with emphasis on long-term committed projects in Adult Education (ESOL and TASC Tutoring at the Northern Manhattan Improvement Center). 

Late March, amidst the CoVid pandemic I moved in with my parents.  I took the train from NYC to Philadelphia, PA.  At that time business and operations were severely restricted (all businesses closed, food service: delivery-only).  When April restrictions were lifted I resumed my community service.  My parents informed me about the Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance (Manna).  Manna is a non-profit that was started during the HIV/AIDs epidemic in the 1970s.  Its mission is to prepare and provide meals to disabled, assisted, and elderly individuals and families--close in concept to Meals on Wheels and Community Servings.