My First Event as a Carnegie Center Volunteer

     A few weeks ago, I went to the Carnegie Center to work my first event as a volunteer. I admit that I was not terribly excited to go; I had a lot of homework and another commitment of my time was going to affect how much work I could get done. However, I am really glad that I decided to work this event. It was a legitimately fun event to participate in. The event was held to commemorate the International Day of Peace, so we spent most of our time there helping the children that were in attendance with making cards and bracelets that had plenty of peace symbols on them. It was definitely a great experience; it was heartwarming to see the children create items that demonstrated what peace meant to them and proudly show off their creations to equally-proud parents and guardians.
     The kids were clearly having a great time, but I thought the most interesting part was seeing what the Carnegie Center had put together for the adults to do while their children were occupied. They brought in a man named Devine Carama to speak to the adults. Devine is a Lexington-based rapper who tries to preach positive messages to local kids and young adults through music. He also works closely with some local foundations (such as the Carnegie Center) and often speaks at events to spread his message. He had a very interesting method to attract people's attention: he freestyle rapped about the need to spread the message of peace to today's youth. After a few minutes of this, essentially all of the adults and even some of the kids had come to the room where he was speaking and listened to what he had to say. He spoke about how he has witnessed bullying and violence firsthand and was working constantly to put a stop to such actions. His speech was profound, truly heartfelt and clearly having an impact of some of the parents in the audience.

Devine Carama speaking to the adults in attendance about the importance of spreading the message of peace.

     After his speech, the Carnegie Center put together a dinner with the help of some local restaurants. It was a cool experience to see the children proudly donning their new bracelets or showing other children their cards, and it was also interesting to hear some of the parents talk about what they took away from Devine's talk. 

     Overall, this was a very positive first event to work. Everyone was having a nice, relaxed evening and learning a little more about what peace means and how we can spread the message of peace in our everyday lives. This was a great experience and I am looking forward to working another event there in the near future.