Community Service Is Self Service

“Its great not only talking about community service in theory but actually doing it.”
– Adam Gardner
This is for everyone who feels for the community around them. Here is to shifting the
narrative from a ‘them’ to a ‘we’ perspective. Here is to taking responsibility for the
environment surrounding us. No more will we idly sit and wait to be rescued from services
that need doing. As the brick that makes up community each member participates in the
creation of the need for service, whether it’s the litter that needs picking or the roads that
need mending. The opposite here is also just as true; whilst someone drops the litter someone
else will pick it up; whilst someone drives on the road, someone else is mending the potholes
in that road. You can be the ‘someone else’ in your community.
Instead of treating community service as a sentence we can begin to adopt it as a preferred
lifestyle. We can start with the smaller and most immediate things, after all, “charity begins at
home”. How are you managing your trash? With the pandemic still thriving many services
that came on regularly have either slowed down or have stopped entirely and in some areas
this includes trash collection. A dumping is neither a temporary nor a permanent solution to
this problem. In your community group you can pick a common dumpsite, there are legal
municipality owned dumpsites, you can find the one closest to your area. Together with other
community members you may put into action a plan to rotate duties for trash collection and
drop offs.
We have only listed one of the many community needs, yet there are so many more issues
within Community that need your brilliant solution. As the saying goes, “no man is an island”
so engage those around you to you can make an even bigger impact. Most groups in
community are at least on a whatsapp chat group together and this could be a platform to
share and throw around ideas. If you have ideas for a community project, why not engage
your councillor for your area and see how best to engage the broader community. You are the
difference you seek in the community you are in so take the leap into community service.