Helping Hands

Volunteering is a beautiful gift. I’ve always felt that if you are lucky enough to have 2 arms, 2 legs, some common sense and a good heart, then you should lend a helping hand to this world. I think volunteering and taking time out of your day to improve someone else’s life, is not only good karma, but a wonderful way to thank the universe for the gift of life. Today, the advertising agency I work allowed many people to give back to this world.

Saatchi & Saatchi LA gave our entire agency a mandatory volunteer day. All 300+employees had to sign up for a volunteer program. Programs ranged from cleaning beaches, to feeding the homeless, to building homes for underprivileged families.

I have always wanted to work in the field for Habitat for Humanity so I chose to build houses. When we were on site and divided into groups, another girl and I were chosen by one of the head supervisors to lead the construction portion of the project. I am still stunned by the amount of trust this supervisor had in us to work with his electric drill and wood staple gun. (Yes, I realize I do not know the real names for these tools.) This man would give me one demonstration of what to do with the electric drill, hand it over and move on with his assignment. It was amazing to have someone else’s complete confidence when working on a never been done before task.

As the day came to an end, I looked up and saw the porch fence that we built, the pieces of this home that we actually put together with our bare hands. And the best part of all, this exact home is going to house the memories of a wonderful family. Someone may have their first kiss while leaning on that railing, or a couple may wave goodbye to their kids driving off to college while sitting on that porch. Their memories will be countless, and I will never forget how beautiful it feels knowing that I had a helping hand.

It is now 6pm at night and I am fairly positive I could go straight to bed. This project has beaten me to my core. Muscles I didn’t even know I had are sore, my body is exhausted, my feet are throbbing, and I have never felt so satisfied.

I am so proud of the work my team and I have put into this community, and this is only after one day of volunteering! I will say this, that is not the last day I will do Habitat for Humanity. I will take another aching body if it means I can use the skills I have to help other people in this world.

Thanks Saatchi and Saatchi LA, you did a beautiful thing by allowing so many of us to give ourselves to the world today.