Service- Szlachetna Paczka
I chose to be one of the leaders of the Szlachetna Paczka organization as I always enjoyed helping others, especially those in need. We often take for granted everything we have in life as it seems meaningless and obvious (like being able to afford healthy food and basic sanitary products used daily). However, unfortunately, many don't have this luxury, usually because of financial problems. Participating in this organization will allow me to help families in need of financial support, therefore hopefully improving their lifestyle.
Tal and I have been creating a plan that will hopefully make the tasks more organized and understandable for us and for the rest of our team. So far we have had one live group meeting in which we discussed everyone's job in allowing this project to happen.
Szlachetna Paczka 2023 - Timeline - Google Sheets
We have written a message to the primary and secondary principals to ask if we can come during the school assembly to talk about the project. Furthermore, we messaged the PTA and received approval and support to continue the project.
So far, I enjoy being one of the leaders of this project as it's the first time I have had such an experience. Overall, I like the idea of working as a group as it allows for more ideas to be generated and work to be distributed evenly. However, at times it is difficult to keep up with everyone's tasks and agree upon certain things. Furthermore, being in charge puts me under pressure at times as I (and Tal) have to be the one controlling everything and everyone which is not always easy. To overcome these difficulties, I make sure I always discuss everything with Tal so we come up with solutions together.
I feel motivated about this project as I really want to make a difference and am enjoying working on it. However, at times I'm a bit stressed as there is a lot of work to do and I always struggled a bit with communication. Overall, I think my goals for this project are achievable and I will work hard to make this project successful. This project will allow me to become a better communicator, more reflective more balanced, which are some of my goals for my IB CAS program.
17/11/23
I sent an email to the PTA to inform parents about Szlachetna Paczka and to encourage them to participate.
18/11/23
In the morning we picked the families which was a bit challenging as they were quickly getting taken by other people and we had to make sure we all agreed on the same families. In addition, we had to make sure their item requests were not too complicated to acquire. In the end, we picked Ms Kamila and her three children for primary and Ms Helena, an elderly woman for secondary. So far I enjoyed this part the most.
https://www.szlachetnapaczka.pl/wybor-rodziny/rodzina/116665/2777
https://www.szlachetnapaczka.pl/wybor-rodziny/rodzina/119246/2759?context=family_choosen
I believe that since
the beginning of the project, I've been getting better at communication and
therefore being in the leadership role. I feel that I now find it easier to
explain the team's tasks and answer their questions and I generally feel more
confident. I also think I have become more organized as I'm more aware of my
own and everyone else's job and can balance my tasks well.
24/11/23
The communication team made posters to inform people of the dates for the collection of items. We hung these posters around the school.
27-28/11/23
The IT team made the sign-up sheets for students/parents/teachers which included a list of items required by both families. We and the primary/secondary team added the quantities needed and the pictures of the items. This was then printed, hung in the school foyer, and posted on schoology.
Secondary Family - Google Docs
This part gave Tal and me some difficulties since we had communication issues with others as they were not all doing what was required of them. However, we managed to fix the issues and have the sign-up sheets ready in time.
4-10/12/23
This was the last week for the collection of items that students signed up to buy for the families. We ran into a problem as there were a lot of missing items and many people were not signing up. As a group, we started giving more announcements and reminding people to sign up, including our classmates. I sent another email to the PTA. We also started collecting donation money which we then used to buy missing items. We reminded people that on the last Sunday before the deadline shops would be open so they had a chance to go buy items. Fortunately, during the weekend many people started signing up for missing items and most of the sign-up sheets were filled. We extended the deadline from the 11th to the 12th of December to give people an extra day to sign up and bring the items. Using my money I bought 3 bottles of dish soap, 2 bottles of fabric conditioner, 6 packs of pasta, and 4 cans of tuna (the items I got can be seen on the online sign-up sheet for the secondary family). Using the donation money, I ordered a toy for the primary family online. Other members of the group used the donation money to buy missing items on the weekend before the deadline. This allowed us to complete everything in time.
The items were gathered and wrapped by different classes. I helped out in wrapping towards the end. The wrapping was surprisingly challenging as at times it was hard to wrap items neatly, especially when they were not square-shaped. However, it was a very fun experience.
15/12/23
This was the delivery day. We had to bring down the boxes and pack them into the van. For the secondary family packages, Mr Han volunteered to deliver them to the warehouse in Niepolomice. We delivered the packages for the primary family. It was a very fun experience as we met the volunteers who were all very warm and welcoming. They offered us tea and talked about how they organized the project. The people helped us put the packages inside the warehouse. The handmade wrapping paper made by the primary children was very appreciated.
We received a certificate for participating and got an update on the families.
Translation:
Your heart and that of other donors was open to people such as Mrs. Helena and her husband:
Waffles from the heart
There was no bathroom in Mrs. Helena's house. "We may not be rich, but that's okay, as long as we stay healthy," she said. Her husband retired after years of hard work. However, life did not allow him to enjoy peace for too long. He learned that he had advanced lung cancer stage A period of great care and anxiety has come for the family.
Paczka's volunteers brought comfort into their lives from a sense of human kindness. The value of the parcel exceeded PLN 10,000 and also included materials needed to build and equip a bathroom.
Mrs. Helena thanked the volunteers in a charming way, giving something good. Like many mothers, I thank my children: by baking waffles and making tea. The family is aware that Paczka will not take the disease away from them, but it will make it easier for them to live with dignity and bring a bit of joy to this difficult time.Approval questions:
- I chose to be a leader in this project as I always enjoyed participating in it during the previous years and getting to be in charge was an even better experience. I wanted to make a difference for families in need.
- The project allowed me to achieve being a communicator, risk-taker, open-minded, caring, thinker, balanced, and reflective. It also made me more of an inquirer as I asked the volunteers and my supervisor questions when I was in doubt.
- I needed a supervisor (Ms Ula) as this was a big project and I did not have previous experience on how to organize it myself.
- In this project, my goal was to help out Ms Helena and Ms Kamila (and her family) by supplying them with everyday products.
- The location of the project was mainly at school as that's where all items were gathered. However, these items were then delivered to warehouses.
- The project took place mainly during school hours, however, as a leader I worked on it outside school as well. In total, the project lasted around a month.
Learning outcome/reflection
Overall, this turned out to be a very successful project as we achieved our mission which was to help out two families in need. The project lasted over a month. I am happy with the way we managed to figure everything out, even when we had little time left. My responsibilities were to keep track of what each team was doing and have direct contact with the volunteers. I met these responsibilities though sometimes it was difficult to understand how much each team did and what they still had to get done. Therefore, working in a team was good as it allowed responsibilities to be divided and for more ideas to be gathered, however there were quite a lot of issues with communication and keeping up to date. We had a calendar with everything planned which we tried to follow as much as possible however sometimes we still struggled with deadlines. I regret having a lot of responsibilities accumulate towards the deadline of the project as it was stressful having to sort things out last minute. Therefore, next time I would ask for donation money earlier and potentially give even more reminders to participate. However, this stressful moment helped me improve my communication and problem-solving skills. I didn't expect people to take that long to sign up and participate in the project. I also thought there would be more people volunteering to participate in the first place. Next time the project should be more prepared for moments in which there is a lack of participation from the school and try to advertise the project even more. My favourite part of the project was delivering the packages to the volunteers and receiving an email/pictures of the family's reactions when they received them. This part gave me satisfaction as it was the visual proof of the positive impact of this project on families in need. This project made me caring and open-minded as I helped others in need, it made me a risk-taker and reflective as we had to make sure the project would proceed smoothly and we were faced with difficulties over which we had to reflect on in order to improve. Finally, it made me balanced and principled as I had to make sure I acted fairly and that I balanced school with the project. I think it is important to help people in need and this should be done everywhere in the world.
Thoughtful reflection on your motivations, and the highs and lows of your experience up to that point. There is plenty more to write about, which I look forward to reading.
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