Mary Baldwin University social work major Amber Kappes volunteered at Trinity in December and reflects on her time with us.
Part of the requirements to graduate from Mary Baldwin University is to complete 20 hours of volunteer work. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to get almost all of those hours completed by volunteering at Trinity Episcopal Church. During my time I at Trinity, I felt more welcomed than I could have ever imagined. Many church members went out of their way to speak to me. Not only did they constantly remind me how thankful they are for all my help, but they also engaged with me in a way that felt like they genuinely wanted to get to know me. This in turn led me to feel more comfortable than I ever have within a church community.
One of my favorite activities at Trinity was to complete a StoryWalk for the children and families within the church, along with the community outside of the church. The idea behind a StoryWalk is to combine exercise and nature with literacy. This is done by buying the book that you would like the community to read and tear out all the pages. These pages are then individually transformed into signs that can be placed on the ground. I had the opportunity of doing this to form a trail for the community to read while also enjoying the outdoors. We borrowed this idea from Anne Ferguson and give her credit as the creator of the first-ever StoryWalk project.
This was an amazing experience for me because it allowed me to see how such a simple task can bring so much joy to the community. Many teachers who are church members mentioned how much they love it. Many other people commented on how wonderful it is as well. This also included Rev. AJ, who not only thanked me for setting the StoryWalk up, but also mentioned how much he loves it, too. It was such a great feeling to be valued by those within the community and to see their smiles because of this StoryWalk.
