Jackson Free Press

I recently volunteered through Operation Shoestring at Brown Elementary School. After a teacher confused me with someone who was supposed to give a talk on alcohol and drugs, she took me to a third grade classroom where eight kids were working on compound words.

The kids were there for Operation Shoestring's summer program, Project K.I.D.S. They were flipping through small, tri-fold booklets, matching pictures with compound words. Some kids were breezing through their booklets, obviously comfortable with the activity. Others struggled in frustration and wanted to give up. That's where I came in. I helped them identify the pictures and sound out the words. One of the main things they needed was encouragement.

While I was there, I decided that kids never fail to impress me with their honesty or their willingness to accept new people into their lives. Within my first hour, one girl told me that my hair looked like Justin Bieber's (a testament to their brutal honesty), and another started calling me her "sister." (I was her new friend the minute we introduced ourselves).

Volunteering at Brown reminded me of how badly some kids need extra help. One boy in particular, I'll call him Andy, stood out to me. He barely knew what the letters of the alphabet sounded like, let alone could he put them together to sound out a word. He was restless and unable to focus, most likely because the activity was above his academic level. But with a child like Andy, a few minutes a day spent on the alphabet with the help of a mentor or a volunteer could change the rest of his life.

Kids like Andy make me want to keep going back to volunteer. And that's the thing about volunteering. It's addictive. Once you start, you see how badly you're needed, what a difference you can make, and you don't want to stop.

To see how you can get addicted to volunteering, check out our listings of the non-profits in the area in this issue (and more at http://www.jackpedia.com). Also, Operation Shoestring is holding a volunteer fair Aug. 12 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.