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Reflective Paper- Day of Service- Cornerstone Community Outreach

Reflective Paper

Day of Service- Cornerstone Community Outreach

International College of the Cayman Islands

GR 509

Tutor: Dr. Marshall

By: Suzette Charlery

Date: May 21, 2016

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Reflective Paper- Day of Service- Cornerstone Community Outreach

Day of Service- Cornerstone Community Outreach

My visit today to the Cornerstone Community Outreach was an amazing experience I will never
forget. It was my first time volunteering at a homeless shelter, and I am very sure it will not be
my last. Today we were given a very warm and informal welcome by all the staff individually,
who made us feel like our help made a difference. They were very friendly and guided us along
on how to help. I am very proud to say that I felt honored to jump in and help with organizing the
dry foods in the beginning and was a bit excited to know what more I could do once the guests
started coming in for lunch. I was in the kitchen helping with the preparation of the meal when I
noticed that people were arriving, and it was time to serve.
At my first glance, I could see the diversity of people walking in. There were old, young, men,
and women of different ethnicity but when I saw mothers walking in with their children, the
excitement I felt turned into great emotions and I had to excuse myself as the tears ran down my
face. I was filled with mixed emotions of feeling so sad for them, and at the same time I learnt
how grateful, thankful and appreciative I am for the little things I have. As I dried my tears, one
of the worker consoled me, he smiled and said Dont worry, we are not okay, but we are happy
because some people dont even have food to eat (Unknown, personal communication, May 21,
2016). With this positive thought, he gave me a pat on the shoulder, and I went back out to give a
hand with serving, and assisting with washing up the dishes.
From this experience, I was also very impressed with how organised the staff worked to
accomplish the successful running of the Cornerstone Community Outreach. I am of the
impression that this organization has a strategy or course of action that identify the approach
needed for the organization to meet their target and an operation plan that stipulate the daily
running of the business for these strategies to be accomplished. Strategic planning is about

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Reflective Paper- Day of Service- Cornerstone Community Outreach

setting a direction for the organization where goals and objectives are developed, and the
company has a plan of how to match their internal strengths with their weaknesses. Furthermore,
the companys capabilities are matched with the demands of the environment (Dessler, 2013).
Strategic plans are developed by high-level managers while operational plans by middle and low
range managers such as the managers we met at the shelter. Further to the completion of a
strategic plan which outline the goals and an operational plan that give the details of the daily
running to meet the objectives, an action plan provide information that decide who is going to
do what and by when and in what order for the organization to reach its strategic goals.
(McNamara, 2007). Although we were volunteers, our help was very beneficial to the
organization because we were managed and guided effectively and efficiently.
According to Clarke (2001), action plans are supporting plans that enable the vision of an
organization to be achieved. It helps the organization monitor progress, maintain control, give
people responsibility, strengthen accountability, and build greater teamwork through a sense of
involvement (Clarke, 2001). It is not surprising that action plans can be affected positively by
the strengths and negatively by the weakness of an organization. For example, whether or not
there are personality clashes or lack of common agreement on issues. I believe a good plan is
designed according to best available priorities because this is like a road map to the
organizations success.

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Reflective Paper- Day of Service- Cornerstone Community Outreach

Reference:
Clarke, G. (2010). Hemophilia Organization Development. Action Planning. No. 2. Retrieved
from: http://www1.wfh.org/publication/files/pdf-1241.pdf

Dessler, G. (2013). Human Resources Management. 13th Edition. United States of America:
Pearson Education. Chapter 17.

McNamara, C. (2007). Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation. 3rd Edition.
Retrieved from: http://www.authenticityconsulting.com/pubs/SP_gdes/SP-toc.pdf