"Dr. R (the professor, whose class we outreached) told me (our friend) Wednesday night that he's still getting e-mails from students and one in particular thanked him for having you girls come in to the class. Seems this student went to NY to celebrate with her friends for her 21st birthday and in one of the bars they went to, was approached by a cross-dresser. She and the CD spent hours talking.That is what Outreach is all about; reaching out to help others through education, that the hope that someway, somehow we can make a difference in somebody’s life. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling in my stomach maybe that is why I want to earn a degree in Social Work.
"She said if it wasn't for outreach that night, she wouldn't have been comfortable, and was so happy to have had the chance to have met all of you in class that night and make her more aware and easier being around someone 'different' than herself."
That made me feel wonderful about our outreaching efforts; it really is worthwhile.
For me that epiphany came when I was standing in line waiting for our reservations at a restaurant, when this woman came up to me and said, “You don’t remember me, but you spoke in our class and I now have a patient who is transgender. And because of that class I knew how to reach out to her.”
If you are gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender or queer or questioning, reach out and help someone by volunteering a little bit of you time.
Amen. That is a beautiful thing. I wish I could do those kind of things every day... to see how open and ready to learn kids in college are... it's beautiful and gives me hope for the future.
ReplyDelete