Denise loves to give back

    The first thing you notice are the curls—she’s tall, so they’re hard to miss.  The spirals bounce and bob with her lively movements. Her voice is high and sweet and she laughs contagiously, which contrasts her commanding presence.
    She is wearing a lemon-colored GIVE Center T-shirt over a white hoodie.  As students pass by, she asks for their help in a community service program.
    Her name is Denise Chambers–GIVE Center volunteer, current GCSU health and art major, art lover and massage therapist.  She has numerous talents but all go to one goal—using her strengths to help her community.      
    “All you have to do is 10 hours of community service and raise $10 over the next 10 weeks,” Denise said.  “The money will be given to the organization of your choice.”
    The look in her eyes, her warm smile and bubbly personality convince some to sign their name on the list and others to turn away with guilt.
    The GIVE Center is an on-campus organization that recruits student volunteers and plugs them into community service events.  It was established in 1997 to give students the opportunity to get involved in aiding the campus and community.
    Denise’s dream is to work in a setting that incorporates health care, community service and her love of art.  She hopes one day to become an art therapist, using the skills she has acquired at GCSU to assist in her ability to help people.
    “I have so many goals,” Denise said, laughing.  “But all of them I want to use when I get older and go into art therapy.  I want to use the experience I’ve gained to help me become the best art therapist I can.”
    Denise’s art helped her cope with the hard times in her life, and she wants to make that a possibility for others. 
    “Sometimes talking about your problems doesn’t help; sometimes you need to be able to visualize them,” Denise said. 
Giving Back to the Community   
    One way Denise is preparing for her goals is by working at the GIVE Center.  Her work there began in September 2005 and she feels that it is her second home. 
    “When you work at the GIVE Center, you get addicted to it,” Denise said, laughing.  “I don’t ever want to lose this passion I’ve found at the GIVE Center—community service is something I don’t ever want to let go of.”
    Denise gets inspiration and guidance from the people she works with at the GIVE Center. 
    “For the things I’m passionate about doing, it’s like I have the guidance I need from the right people,” Denise said.  “I get to learn from watching what they do.”
    One of those people is GCSU alumna Kim David.  Kim said in the two years she has known Denise, Denise has added a sense of “positiveness” to the GIVE Center and a spirit of fun that brightens up the work place.
    “She’s been an inspiration to me,” Kim said.  “Even though I’ve been with the GIVE Center since 1999, it’s an inspiration to see someone jump in and do what she can to better the community.”
    Kim laughed when describing the first time she met Denise.
    “My first impression was that she was crazy, but in a good way,” Kim said.  “She never meets a stranger.”
    Denise’s cheery personality and willingness to help with whatever she can is a “huge strength,” according to Kim. She tackles new projects with creative ideas.
    Paul Sedor, assistant director of the GIVE Center is thankful for Denise’s organizational skills and the assistance she gives him with new volunteers.  More importantly, Paul appreciates the energy Denise brings to the office.  She is reliable and she views her position at the GIVE Center as more than a job. 
    “She won’t leave until the job is done,” Sedor said.  “She takes her job very seriously and takes pride in it.”
    Paul, like Kim, laughed when he recalled the day he first interviewed Denise.  She was full of energy.  After the interview, he walked into the director’s office and said, “Wow, there’s never going to be a dull moment with her!”
    The most prominent role Denise plays at the GIVE Center is as servant leader for the Adopt-A-Grandparent program.  This program pairs college students with senior citizens in local nursing homes. 
    “It’s giving [the senior citizens] the opportunity to meet new people and be a part of someone’s life who actually wants to be there,” Denise said.  “It’s not super-duper crazy fun, but if it’s what you like, then it’s worth it.”
A Troubled Past: An Opportunity
     Being in foster care as a child forced Denise to depend on the people around her to support her and be her second family.
    “I’ve been through a lot, but I’ve had people to help me all along the way,” Denise said.  “It’s not something I pity myself for, it’s something I’m proud of—it’s something that’s helped me become a stronger person.”
    To Denise, struggles and hard times motivate her to be happy and content, and that spills over to her desire to make others the same.
    Denise is an example of a person with enormous talents and capabilities.  What makes her special is that she can’t keep it in.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 23 2007. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry