Biography

In the past five years I learned how important it is to service others. I grew up privileged living in a suburb of Farmington called Kirtland, NM. I grew up in a strong loving family oriented environment. Having both my parents working and growing up in a community that had electricity and running water was a necessity. Looking back I now realize that I took these basic luxuries for granted. Having seen media headlines of youth being arrested for drugs, DUls, and other crimes, I felt compelled to return to my beginnings starting with my home back in Steamboat, AZ. After visiting a few relatives in the area, I wanted to start making a change. From then on I also noticed that in our conversations it was about who's in jail, who has been caught drinking and driving. I didn't want family conversations such as that being discussed so I thought it would have to be up to me to make that change. I then started to go back to church and got invited to attend a college Christian retreat. On the first day I met Rhianan and we had an instant bond that I have never experienced before. Later as our friendship grew she invited me back to her house and introduced me to her mom and her grandparents I immediately felt as if I were at my house. From that one weekend I found myself wanting to come back. Rhianan introduced me to all her grandma's and grandpa's and I greeted them with a warm smile as they gave me warm hugs and called me their grandchild. The emotions that I felt could not be summed up in this paragraph, as soon as they would let me go I knew that I wanted to do more for them. I wanted to help them in any way possible during the summertime as well as the winter. I wanted to let them know that there are young people that still do want to make a difference and want to learn more about their culture and that's why I feel so passionate about the elderly. I know that they are not as strong as they use to be and doing household chores for them means so much to them. This winter I would visit them to make sure that they had wood brought into their homes and had plenty of water. I also teamed up with some other youths in the area to pick up trash alongside one of the roads in Coyote Canyon. In the community of Coyote Canyon I may not be member of that chapter but I want to take care of the people who live there. Although this is not my fIrst experience working with the elderly, I feel that they have much to teach and give to myself and others.