We now have a lot of choices when it comes to picking our own community, location may not have as much as a factory anymore. A community can be defined as a group of humans that have a sense of belonging together and care for each other. Community isn’t always referred to as humans, sometimes it a group, “the economics community” or “the bowling community”. I also see the word being used more and more often, in advertising, marketing, and even on Face Book groups. The speaker may be writing about the events for the month in the community. When I first thought about what community means to me I immediately thought about a group of people based on location and sharing a common goal. They are far more concerned about the members of this community than the ordinary person they encounter on the street. This is what makes a community special. Communities create safety, teamwork, support, protection, and growth. Martin Luther King Jr. is a great example of a community organizer who rallied communities to speech on racism, freedom, and justice. He had a large community of individuals that agreed with him and were willing to help support him.
I have always been active in my community, I played hockey, was in an international club, worked at my local library part-time, and performed for our yearly 9/11 ceremony. I was a Girl Scout my entire life and received the highest award in scouting. The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award and has stood for excellence and leadership for years. Only about 5.4% of eligible Scouts earn it. Making a long lasting impact was not easy and very time consuming. I had to plan and implement an individual “Take Action” project that goes beyond Girl Scouts and provides a sustainable, lasting positive impact to the larger community. Scouts establish close bonds and people skills with peers, teachers, and neighborhoods. Even in elementary school we began to learn about friendships while learning to be respectful, compassionate, and friendly. We learn people skills through each other and community while working on a service project. For my project I noticed very few teenagers reading or coming into the library. I started off by creating my own book club, I picked out books that I know would encourage teens to read and want to talk about it. I went throughout my community to newsletters and emails to spread the word. I ran the girls’ book club successfully for two years until a girl scout took over. I began going to board meetings and town meetings to see what the budget could allow. I proposed that the library needs to have its space modified so that teens would feel comfortable coming into the library to read or doing work. After attending many meeting with the town board and local schools,my work paid off and the Library Board and received a donation of a $2,500 grant to help fund these new programs. Lastly, I wrote a pamphlet on how to start a book club, problems that I ran into, and solutions. I was able to make a long lasting impact in my community.
