Volunteering Fun with Dastan!

By Dastan Akhtayev~Academic Year Program member, Greenheart Club member  

Dastan is a high school exchange student from Kazakhstan who is enjoying experiencing United States culture in Idaho. He is a hardworking member of the Greenheart Club and has done 106 hours of service thus far!                                                                            

Hi, everyone!  I want to share with you my volunteer experience.  Every month my friends and I participate in different volunteer events. Here is an example of one of those events!

The first week of autumn my friends from CCI Greenheart and I met with our Local Coordinator, Nancy White, who always helps us with everything and inspires us to volunteer. We went to a big, monthly event, where you could join the worship, help a charity organization, or participate in cultural activities. Our team gathered a lot of food, which we gave to a food bank and a charity organization. Later, we decided to help our Local Coordinator, and began to share information about hosting an exchange student with the guests at the event. It was a great experience because we were able to see how hosting works! During the worship we made cotton candy, and volunteered at a bounce house where we looked after kids.

Even though the weather was windy and cold, it didn’t stop our volunteering experience. We felt happy being together as one big exchange family composed of people from Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Georgia, Russia and Pakistan. We had a lot of fun because we were part of something great. Thanks CCI Greenheart and FLEX!