In my opinion, serving the community is the easiest way to show gratitude and give back. It’s an act of love and care for your community in an attempt to make it a safer and better place. Community service is also a great way to bring people out of their comfort zone by seeing things from a different perspective. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to serve the community in many different ways in the US. However, during my high school years, in Brazil, I was a member of a club called “Volunteering Partners” (Parceiros Voluntários). In that club, we would have weekly meetings to make plans and discuss which places in the community we could provide help. Some of the services we arranged included, activity/fun days in public schools located in low-income neighborhoods, visiting and donating supplies to different assisted living communities, and lastly, going to shelters to donate food and play with the animals that were up for adoption. Those services were very rewarding, besides being a great way to make memories and learn more about different people and their life stories. The experiences I had while being in the volunteering group definitely helped me become the individual I am today. Because of them, I realized that not everybody has access to the same opportunities and privileges, which made me grateful even for the challenges and failures that I have encountered in my journey. In addition to that, those services showed me the importance of being open minded and empathetic, especially when interacting with people that come from a different background than yours. Although the community service didn’t directly open any doors to new opportunities, or led me to meet any high position person, it was an experience that definitely influenced my decision to pursue a profession in healthcare. It turns out that, caring for those in need and helping in any possible way is something that I find very rewarding. Along with that realization, service-learning also taught me to be compassionate, and how a simple smile or a genuine act of kindness can make a big difference in someone else’s day, or even life. As mentioned in the beginning, I believe that serving the community is a great way to express gratitude and work on making it a better place. As a result of that, now, I find myself proudly working for a non-profit organization that operates in the state of Illinois, providing quality medical care and assistance for all, but focusing mostly on the migrant, seasonal agricultural, and uninsured population. Finally, I can say that the experiences I had during my years of volunteering changed me for the best and taught me to do good without expecting anything in return.