Opinion

Unsung Heroes: Volunteers From Japan to Friendship Circle

Unsung heroes, everyone knows one. People in their everyday lives who go unnoticed for the most part but keep our world running smoothly. In the wake of the recent tragic events in Japan I heard of one such young man, he was volunteering in one of the temporary shelters feeding the hundreds of displaced families staying there in the wake of their home having been destroyed. Interviewed by a national news agency about his efforts to help others, he quietly explained, it helps him pass the time as he waits to hear if his parents bodies had been recovered. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Making a difference. Friendship Circle's staff, teen and adult volunteers are those kinds of heroes in my world. My child who participates in programming there has been touched in ways words cannot describe. Her friends at Friendship Circle have enriched her in ways I never dreamed possible. The teen volunteers are heroes to our family. I am a proud parent of one such volunteer. My daughter Gavrielle, Gavi as she is called is a teen volunteer. I honestly would not have predicted Gavi would have offered her services to Friendship Circle. She is after all a sibling to not one but two sisters who live with Autism and Aspergers Syndrome. Gavi is sandwiched between one who excels at almost everything she tries on the first try and one who struggles emotionally and clings for help almost every step of the way. Gavi cannot really turn to her two other siblings to vent, share or seek support. One is 23 and hasn’t lived home in almost 5 years and the other, well she is not quite five years old and her greatest concern is if we recorded the last episode of Dora. Gavi has the unique challenge, the special placement of having watched her sisters navigate their very different paths down this road. Why then does she volunteer? Most teens in her position might seek refuge shopping at a mall or in their bedrooms, alone, away from it all.  I assumed the last thing Gavi would want was to be surrounded by more people who needed anything of her. I was wrong. Thank goodness.  Gavi is indeed uniquely qualified to be a great teen volunteer to a buddy at Friendship Circle. She is a great buddy here at home and has been her whole life. She was born into this position, accepted it with grace and has finely tuned her ability to assist, lead and love unconditionally, all at 12. Gavi is my unsung hero. She patiently waits for her dad and I to attend to her younger sisters, she knows not to demand “too much” as we are often overtaxed and have little left to give. She has developed a keen awareness of when her sister needs to take a break from all of us and while it can feel like personal rejection she has managed to understand this is not about her.  She posses the wisdom and maturity many adults lack. Gavi is special and a great kid, sister and an awesome buddy. I am proud of her. I doubt she thinks her “gift” is a gift at all. My guess would be she would say being at Friendship Circle is fun. I have many times heard her express the buddy’s there are so cute, so fun and filled with so much love. She makes it sound like she is the one getting something special from her relationship with them.  I would suggest it goes both ways. This blog post if discovered by her may cause her embarrassment. I promise this is not my intention. This is no doubt a post that should be shared by all the teen volunteers. I for one know many of them and each one greets every child there with huge smiles, patience and stamina I often lack as an adult. Each teen volunteer makes a sacrifice of their time to spend it with their buddy and each one is a hero worthy of recognition. I offer my gratitude to all of you, my thanks for all you do and my overwhelming love and affection to one very special teen buddy.