Resurrection Youth Group by Naomi

Resurrection Youth Group by Naomi - December 2019 Scholarship Essay

What is the Midnight Run? When I first heard the name through my youth group, I thought that it was, quite literally, a run at midnight. However, I quickly learned that it is actually a charitable homeless outreach initiative. I became very interested in the cause and wanted to become a part of the project. Living so close to NYC, I had become exposed to the societal problem of homelessness at a young age. I have always loved to volunteer and saw the Midnight Run as a great opportunity for me to help out a cause that I was passionate about. I signed up, and was soon given a few important responsibilities.
I was responsible for soliciting donated clothing items, perform thorough sortation and organization of the items, and then, along with a small group, go to many different places where homeless people congregate in NYC and hand out the clothing and donated food to the homeless. I took on this big responsibility with determination. I inspired and motivated people to donate through a wide email distribution to many people in my community, my family and friends and through directly speaking with many people. Over the course of a few weeks, I was successful in collecting hundreds of donated items. Then, a few days prior to the event, we began to bring all of the donated items together and sort them into different categories such as clothing type, gender, and sizes. I took charge of labeling the shoes with their sizes, and I assigned peers with other labeling roles. It took a few days before we were finally complete in sorting and labeling all items.
On the day of the event, we split into smaller groups. Each group travelled in one car and was in charge of a few specific bags of donated items. My group was in charge of distributing shoes, gloves and a few other bags of winter gear. I took on the responsibility of creating a plan of action so that we could be efficient in handing out these items while also making it fair for the homeless recipients. We would not let the recipients look inside the car and try to take some of the items for themselves, but instead we would give them the item and size that they asked for. We would treat the recipients with respect, and if matters got out of hand, we would take care of the situation calmly. When we finally arrived in the city, I couldn’t hold in my excitement. Weeks of preparation all lead up to the midnight event. All of my hard work paid off when I saw the smiles on the recipient's faces when they received a new pair of shoes or a pair of gloves. We should be grateful for the basic necessities in life, because there is always someone who is less fortunate or in greater need than ourselves. The Midnight Run is only one of the many volunteer opportunities where I took a leadership position, but it was one of the most challenging and inspiring experiences that I’ve had. First-hand witnessing homelessness and helping the homeless people through my youth group has heavily impacted me.