Helping Mrs. Greenburg Carl V. Lewis

Three years ago, it had never crossed my mind to help people who were not part of my immediate sphere of family and friends. Instead, I adopted a convenient attitude of apathy when it came to service – never imagining that an invitation to volunteer in a local service project would completely redefine my thinking.

At the beginning of the summer of my ninth grade year, I kept myself busy by doing as little as possible. One afternoon, however, a woman from my church called and asked if I would like to help out with a mission project our youth group was doing the next day. I had no idea what to say. I was not exactly thrilled at the idea of spending an entire day in the torrid Georgia heat raking yards and painting houses, but I did not have much else planned. Also, I reasoned it would be an easy way to log some community service hours for the honor society at school. Reluctantly, I agreed to help out with the project.

The next morning I woke up at daybreak and outfitted myself in a pair of old jeans, some ragged work boots, and a baseball cap to keep the sun out – I felt ready to face a hard day’s work. When we arrived at the work site, I was stunned at what I saw. It appeared to be a house, but it was so overrun with weeds,...