Serving the Community
Andrew Katapodis, Environmental Scientist
Andrew Katapodis, an environmental scientist in our Hamilton, NJ office, shares how serving his community became a routine part of his life.
I began volunteering with the Avalon United Methodist Church around eight years ago when my mother began to work there part time. I was in high school at the time, and with thoughts of college on the horizon, I wanted to have volunteer experience under my belt before it was time to start applications. The staff and veteran congregation were extremely welcoming when I expressed this interest, and shortly after I was volunteering at the monthly food bank event the church hosted.
I continued to volunteer at these food bank events while also signing up for many different service events posted on the local bulletin boards. Some were one-off service projects such as picking up groceries/supplies for elderly or sick congregation members while others would grow into annual or monthly events such as the Summer Camp program and the Blind Center for the Jersey Cape. Alongside offering a wide range of local and semi-local volunteering events, the Avalon United Methodist Church made getting involved with civic projects an easy process!
Out of the programs sponsored by the Avalon United Methodist Church, my absolute favorite has always been the annual Summer Camp program. I have always loved working with kids. In my early teen years, my mother worked at an elementary after-school center, and I would help her out after my own school and on weekends; volunteering at the Summer Camp program felt like a natural extension of that. Lasting for a week in the beginning of July and with all proceeds going to a local charity or non-profit, the church offered a fun full-week experience filled with games, arts and crafts, music, performances, science, sports, and fully cooked meals and snacks!
I started out as a high school volunteer working with the kitchen staff doing tasks such as prepping food, cleaning and setting the meal area and cooking spaces, and serving food to the campers. As I got older, I was entrusted with more involved tasks such as being a camp leader for one of the various age groups and most recently overseeing, designing, and showcasing the science presentations and experiments. At the last camp I was able to volunteer at, the campers and I made miniature baking soda volcanoes as the theme that year had been a Tropical Island Adventure, and it was some of the most fun I had ever had while volunteering!
The Avalon United Methodist Church opened my eyes to many forms of volunteer work that I had previously not been exposed to, and I credit them with my passion for volunteer work.
