Running Head: SERVICE LEARNING JOURNAL
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Service Learning Journal: A Time of Growth and Broadened Horizons
Victoria Beal
University of Florida
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Abstract
Victoria Beal completed her twenty hours of community service at the St. Francis House located
in Gainesville, Florida. The St. Francis House helps with the transition of Alachua County
homeless residents back into a safe, sustainable environment. “A key feature of our outreach is
connecting homeless people to our own housing and services” (Vann, 2016). While she served at
the St. Francis House, Victoria was challenged to move outside of her comfort zone. The
clientele was from a demographic that Victoria was not familiar with interacting with. Each
week served as an opportunity for her to be stretched and grow as an individual. She worked
with the kitchen staff primarily. Her duties included serving lunch, rolling silverware, and tiding
the kitchen area. She was also able to hear about the other volunteer’s backgrounds and stories.
She gained a greater appreciation for the privileges, and blessings that she has in her own life
seeing as though there are others who go without.
Keywords: homeless, Gainesville, community service, food service, St. Francis House
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Service Learning Journal: A Time of Growth and Broadened Horizons
This journal serves to document the experiences Victoria had while completing her
twenty hours of community service at the St. Francis House. She went in with an open mind
hopping to be able to broaden her horizons and give back to the Gainesville community. She
has had previous exposure to volunteering and serving with the homeless, however she was
always with a church group, or with her family. For this experience Victoria volunteered on her
own, which made for some interesting times of being stretched out of her comfort zone, and
having to present herself in a very mature fashion.
Goal
The goal Victoria had going into this service learning project was to be able to give back
to the city of Gainesville. Gainesville is hosting Victoria for four years while she completes her
undergraduate degree at the University of Florida, so Victoria wanted to be able to give back to
the community that she is living in. She wanted to really put down roots here in Gainesville and
there is no better way to do that than to volunteer in one’s community. She knew she wanted to
help give back to the homeless population, and that is why she reached out to St. Francis House.
In Gainesville from 2014 to 2015, “The total homeless population saw a minor, 0.5 percent
increase, from 2,091 people last year to 2,102” (Jones, 2015). She realized the need for help and
took the opportunity of having to volunteer as an assignment to reach out to the St. Francis
House.
Methods
While she was at the St. Francis House, Victoria’s main responsibilities involved arriving
at the organization at ten o’clock in the morning and checking in with the head of kitchen staff,
Ms. Cheryl. She would then log her start time in the volunteer book. Then she would put on a
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hair net and be assigned to a food on the food line. Shortly there after hungry people would line
up to receive their food. Victoria tried her best to be a light to all of the people that passed
through the line. She wanted to make them feel valued and respected as an individual person.
She would portion out food and serve it to the individual in the line. When there were breaks in
the line she would wipe up the serving counter to make sure it looked presentable and clean. She
would also spend time getting to know the stories of the other volunteers that were serving at the
St. Francis house. Sometimes when the there wasn’t a need for another person on the serving
line, Victoria was asked to roll silverware out in the dining hall.
The effects of what Victoria did were seen in between the smiles of those receiving food
in the line. Many of the effects of her service were not immediately seen. She does not know the
effects of her kindness and service to those less fortunate. What she hopes is that the effects of
her service helped someone to feel valued, and important. She hopes that the effects of her
service helped to relieve the stress and some of the duties of the kitchen staff. She hopes that the
effects of her taking time to hear people’s stories made them feel validated and loved. She may
not know the full extent of the effects of her service but she knows that her service was not in
vain. The effects of her service also affected her. She was able to grasp the reciprocity
component of the Components of Service Learning. As she gave her time, she was able to
receive insight and perspective as to how blessed she is to live the life that she has. She realized
that many of the luxuries that she has many people do not. It made her more grateful and
appreciative of all that she has.
Victoria’s service learning made her family an array of emotions. At times she felt
overwhelmed with hearing the stories of the people she was working with. Many of their lives
and the experiences that they faced were extraordinarily different than what Victoria was
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exposed to in her personal life. She felt empathy and sadness with seeing the conditions of some
of the homeless individuals that walked through the food line. She felt fearful and uncomfortable
with some of the sketchy glances she would receive from grown men at the shelter. She also felt
humbled when she came to realize that not everyone had the same positive upbringing that she
had. She felt happy and joyful when she was able to shine her light and bring a smile to an
individual that she was serving face. She felt tired at the end of a long shift after interacting with
so many individuals and standing on her feet for three hours. She also felt purpose knowing that
she was where she was meant to be, serving the demographic that she was meant to serve.
Victoria built many different relationships. She made a relationship with a nineteen year
transgender girl who was court ordered to do community service. The girl was distraught and in
shambles when Victoria first met her because she had just come from here court hearing where
