February Blog

                                                      February Community Service Hours: 4 hours

Total Spring Community Service Hours: 9 hours

For my first volunteer activity of the month,  I spent two hours crafting Valentine's Day cards for senior citizens through Cupid Crew. The cupid project aims to make seniors feel connected to the community, and acknowledged during Valentine's Day when everyone is celebrating love. I've attached pictures of my personal favorites from the cards I made below. 

Many seniors can be prone to feeling lonely and isolated, as we learned about in Dr. Mostany's neuropharmacology course. These psychological troubles have shown to worsen any health issues many seniors may already struggle with and could shorten their predicted lifespan. I was raised by my grandmother for a majority of my life, and I think a lot about the loneliness she experiences back at home in California. Thinking of her - I put a lot effort (despite my limited artistic skills) to make the Valentine's cards as uplifting and smile-inducing as possible. 

For my second volunteer activity of the month, I spend two hours volunteering at the Legs 'n Dregs Brewery Marathon, filling cups with beer and passing them out to racers as they approached our mark on the route. This was an interesting opportunity to get to know the members of the local community. I was surprised at the concept of combining running over 26.2 miles and drinking alcohol. In the most recent medical pharmacology unit we learned that exercise can help release endogenous opioids such as enkephalins and endorphins, the runners at this event likely experienced a more pronounced feeling of euphoria due to the combination of the long-distance running "high" and the ethanol from the beer.