Helping Hands by Lacey

Helping Hands by Lacey - May 2018 Scholarship Essay

I chose to participate in the Hurricane Harvey relief effort because I was overwhelmed with compassion towards the hurricane victims affected so close to my own home in Texas. The nearness of the devastation brought by the hurricane made the pain of those afflicted remarkably tangible and the need for help extremely real. I’ve always been eager to serve and uplift those around me, so I was overjoyed when I had the special opportunity to personally serve families affected by the hurricane. I desperately wanted to bring hope to every family and each individual, to reassure them that everything would be okay, and that they did not have to bear their burdens alone.
Through the Mormon Helping Hands my family sent in much needed resources to hurricane victims in Texas and almost every weekend, from August to October, I helped muck out houses in Houston, Katy and Corpus Christi Texas. With a willing and eager heart, I traveled down to Houston on multiple weekends where each service team would spend the whole day mucking out flooded houses. This included cleaning out the general filth, disposing of ruined possessions, removing sheet rock, and salvaging what we could for the families we served.
Working in those ruined homes and seeing debris from each house thrown into the same garbage pile as once treasured possessions made me realize that we work too hard to acquire things that can be taken away so easily. Objects and possessions will forever fluctuate in their value, but the value of a single life remains immeasurable. The people in our lives are priceless and are worth our love, protection, and sacrifice. I’ve benefited greatly from participating in the Hurricane Harvey relief effort because it’s opened my eyes to the vastness of good that can be present amidst such turmoil. I know that it is my duty to bring that goodness into the lives of those around me and I will continue to serve with nothing less than a willing and full heart.