Autism Ontario

On Tuesday, November 30^th, CSLN visited Autism Ontario for their “Teen Group” program. We had blast hanging out with the teens that came out (whom had varying degrees of either autism or Asperger syndrome) and decorating the main room in preparation for their Christmas party next week.

Autism is a neural developmental disorder. People with autism generally have difficulties in their social and behavioural skills. While this may be true, most of the teens that showed up were very social (and extremely intelligent)! It is pretty cool to be able to discuss the Human Genome Project with a 13-year-old (and be corrected by them).

All in all, it was a great experience talking to everyone and getting a new perspective on a disorder (and being able to humanize it) that we may have only heard about in Psychology 1000. Looking forward to going back soon!

-Michael Salna

Saugeen Serves-Parkwood Hospital

On Saturday November 27^th, over 100 students from Saugeen Maitland Hall took part in Saugeen Serves. We were split into eleven groups and each group spent the afternoon service learning with an organization within London. I was the team leader of a group of seven students who ventured to St. Joseph’s Hospital-Parkwood in the south of London.  That afternoon, a Barbershop Quartet was performing in the auditorium, and it was our job to transport the patients from their rooms to the auditorium so they could enjoy the entertainment. While gathering residents to escort to the auditorium, we had the chance to talk to them and, as most of the residents were much older than us, it was a nice change from the usual conversations we have at school. There is a Veteran’s wing at this hospital, and some of the other volunteers were fortunate enough to escort them to the auditorium and talk to them about their adventures. The Barbershop Quartet was entertaining, and my favourite part was when the residents were given the words to some common Christmas carols and we all sang along. It was really nice to see hospitalized people so happy and excited about the holidays.

After the show was over and we escorted everyone back to their rooms, we were shown this touching video about some residents from this hospital:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwE_scrl4fE

My service learning experience at this hospital was amazing, and everyone from our group signed up to get more information about volunteering there in the future.
-Alyssa Kelly

Holiday Decorating at Rotholme!

On Friday, December 3^rd, seven Western students took a break from studying for exams and trekked through the snow to Rotholme Women’s and Family Shelter. Rotholme is one of the shelters run by Mission Services of London, and provides emergency shelter for families and single women. Mission Services provides many important services to community members in need. Throughout the year the Community Service Learning Network will be volunteering with Mission Services in many of their programs, providing students with the opportunity to learn more about the organization.

This service learning event was filled with holiday cheer! Students decorated the shelter for the holidays with some of the families at the shelter. Some students had never decorated for the holidays, so this was a night filled with new experiences. The students had many different reasons for coming out to volunteer, but we all found out how important this shelter is to our community. Through interaction with the clients of the Rotholme and a discussion period following the service, students were able to share what value this service had to their academic and career goals. One student aspired to be a teacher, so spending time with children provided valuable experience, while others simply wanted to get involved in the community they live in. We are excited to continue with Mission Services and to learn more about the issues they face and the community members they serve.

-         - Alanna Morgan

Santa Shuffle with the Salvation Army

It's early in the morning on a Saturday, and all is covered in snow as the mercury drops several degrees below zero. But that isn't enough to stop 10 eager service learners from helping out at the the Santa Shuffle, a charity 5K run held every year to support the London Salvation Army. I had never heard about the run before this year, but it's held in over 30 communities all over Canada every winter. We all arrived early to help with registration and directing runners that were soon going to run 5 laps around gorgeous Victoria Park, an ambitious feat considering how cold it was and the unshovelled paths. For us it was also a great learning experience. Some of us were tasked with cheering runners on as they ran, while others were handing out goody bags at the finish line.  At reflection, we all agreed that the sense of accomplishment we could see on the faces of those who finished the run was among some of the best parts of the morning. Many of the participants were not serious runners, or even athletic, but the need in the community was enough to get them out of bed early on a Saturday. Most of us service learners had never heard of the Santa Shuffle before either, and were impressed that we were able to contribute to a worthy cause doing something unexpected. We were not helping out at a shelter, or sorting through donations, nor did we meet any of the people that the Salvation Army serves, but yet we were able help thousands of people. And that, is what amazed us most.

Vivian
Student Coordinator