Saturday April 21t, 2018, during a very sunny morning Her Campus participated in a community activity: “Almuerzo Para Nuestra Gente II”. This activity was organized by the student organizations from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, San Germán Campus. The aim was to get all our organizations together and distribute food, drinks, snacks and desserts to homeless people. We all gathered at “Plaza Colón”, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. The aim of the activity was to. We loved participating in this activity as we not only had the opportunity of helping those who need all the help they can get, but because we also learned about to navigate the challenges that organizing such an activity brings about.
One of the first challenges we faced was trying to communicate as a team while another activity was being held close to where our table was. While the other activity was done with good intentions , it was very loud and made it hard for our team to hear each other as we were trying to accomplish our goals. As a result of lack of communication, some students got frustrated and began to loudly express their opinions against other students instead of working out a solution. Therefore, next time we are in a similar situation, we are going to make sure that everybody is heard and that we find an efficient way to communicate among our team even is the environment is noisy.
Another challenge was the heat. The sun made it very difficult for us to walk around for a long period of time without getting fatigued, thirsty and sweaty. We needed to go around the city and invite people so we could distribute the food we had.. There were numerous students volunteering, and while that’s a good thing, we just became too many and it made it hard for all of us to work. and achieve our collective purpose. Our second lesson, then, is that we should coordinate the groups better next time. Maybe for such activities where some physical exertion is expected, we should organize the groups in short shifts and make these groups report the areas they have covered and the number of people they have met.
Even with all the challenges faced, the overall purpose of the activity was uplifting to us and we were able to achieve our aim: help people who are struggling.. We donated food to plenty of homeless people, among whom, sadly, we saw children. It was very sad to see such young people in need. The student organizations also provided clothes, shoes and a bag of personal hygiene products for each person receiving food. The Nursing student organization brought their equipment to give people a quick medical checkup. In the end, it was a good experience and we encourage everyone reading this to help those in need. Not only is it rewarding for everyone involved: you and those who you help, but it can teach you a thing or two about how you improve your teamwork.