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Mianna Sullivan
Professor Claire Peterson
Humanities 1010
30 July 2016
Civic Engagement Activity: Rural Housing Development Volunteer Work
For my civic engagement activity, I chose to volunteer with the BYU service
organization, Y-Serve, doing a project called Rural Housing Development. Rural
Housing Development is an organization that works with Self-Help Homes, a
government-sponsored company that permits families to save money by helping to
build their own homes, in a rural area. This option is a great program for families
who have low income. All of the soon-to-be neighbors work together to finish the
homes, and nobody moves in until all the houses in a designated area are finished.
The role of the Y-Serve volunteers is to help build the homes, pull weeds in front of
the homes, and do anything else that would help the homes be completed quicker. I
participated in this activity on Saturday, July 23, from 8:30-11:30 a.m., in Elk Ridge
City, Utah.
The specific area in which we were working, the house frames were already built
and the yards were landscaped, but did not yet have grass. The area where the
grass would go was covered with weeds. People can be fined if the homes have too
many weeds. Other workers were planning on installing the new grass soon.
Because of these two reasons, my primary duty was to eliminate the weeds at one
of the homes.

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In module three, we learned about Beginnings and Origins-The Individual and
Society. One of the key elements humans need in order to live, is shelter. Shelter
protects humans against dangerous weather conditions, and predators (whether the
predators are animals or even other humans). For example, on page four of the
textbook, it explains that, the Neolithic people lived in villages consisting of a
number of mud- and limestone-faced huts-humankinds earliest architecture (Fiero,
2013). It is natural for humans to want to be part of a community. Each page in
module three describes a group of people, such as the Paleolithics, Mesolithics,
Neolithics, etc.-not just one person. This proves that for a very long time, it has
been natural for people to live in groups. Community provides the means to
reproduce, and to work together to benefit each other. For example, in our
community, we have teachers who help our children learn, police who control crime,
grocery stores that provide food and other home essentials, construction workers
who build homes and other buildings, etc. The world is more efficient when people
are living in communities, and not doing everything for themselves. We were also
made to be in families, so I believe that it is natural for us to want to be with other
people-whether that be living in a family, or living near neighbors, or both. Rural
Housing Development builds homes in rural communities. Although these
communities are rural, they are still communities; neighbors work together and live
in close proximity with one another, satisfying the human needs to have shelter,
and live in a community. Thus, serving with Rural Housing Development is closely
related to strengthening the individual and their relationship to society.
I believe that my contribution in Rural Housing Development made me not only a
more responsible citizen-in terms of promoting the freedom of others-but also a
more aware citizen. During the past few months, I have learned more about

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homelessness, and that there are multiple contributing factors to it. I believe that
everyone deserves a safe and secure place to call home, which is part of the reason
why I really enjoyed volunteering for my civic engagement activity. Although I only
pulled weeds for the service project, and did not participate in the building of the
homes, I still feel that I made a contribution. My effort in eliminating weeds helped
in the progression of a neighborhood of homes being built and completed, including
the yard landscaping and maintenance. As volunteers work together to complete
the necessary tasks, the families are able to move in and begin their new life
sooner. I hope that next time I participate in Rural Housing Development, I will be
able to help build the homes, but I do believe that every little bit helps. Participating
in this project promoted my realization and awareness of how much freedom I have
by living in a home, and that I can help other people enjoy that same freedom.
Over the years I have had a number of opportunities to be civically engaged with
my community, or in other words, be involved in the needs and activities in my
community. I have enjoyed volunteering at the Utah food bank, being a weekly
buddy to a teenage girl with special needs in a youth program, and playing music
for residents in a senior care center. While each service met a need, I really enjoyed
my Rural Housing Development activity because it met such an important, basic
need: shelter. It was easy to recognize the improvement our service made. I was
able to see how many weeds we eliminated, and how much nicer the neighborhood
looked once we did. I was also able to make a few new friends who enjoyed service,
and encouraged me to continue serving. After participating in this project, I decided
to make a monthly goal of doing service with Y-Serve, whether that be participating
in Rural Housing Development, or any of the other programs they offer. I would do

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this service project again, because although I was just weeding, I did feel like I was
helping out a family gain the freedom that comes with home ownership.

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