Analysis

St. Vincent de Paul is an example of a civic organization.  They take the donations they receive from the generally “wealthy”, or more fortunate, donators and then sell them out to the less fortunate.  I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to the work there, and in doing so was able to see this process.  Unlike many organizations that simply beg for money donations, St. Vincent de Paul uses a clever system to help others, a system I’d call “recycling”. 

The chain begins at the top with the donators.  Car after car pulled up with various items ranging anywhere from electronics to clothes, or furniture to toys.  These items were valued as useless, worn out “junk” to the donator, but to the organization, these items still possessed value.  The items were them sorted out and priced at extremely low costs and placed in the store to be purchased, which brings us to the second link in our “recycling” chain.  At this point people who have less money come in and search for necessities or pleasure items.  For example, while working out back, one gentleman donated what he described as “a couch that has lost its cushion”.  But once we cleaned it up a little and priced it (at 60 with an additional 35% off), a lady came in, took a seat on it, and exclaimed, “It’s such a blessing to have stumbled across such a comfortable couch!”  Hearing this made me realize how much those of us who are wealthier, don’t really appreciate the possessions we have, yet at the same time I was touched to see how overjoyed the woman was with the couch. 

            The third link in this chain comes from the money received from a purchased item.  Keep in mind St. Vincent de Paul is making money without producing their own goods; it’s solely off of donations received.  With this money they do various things for those who really can’t even afford the used goods.  One thing they do is take the money from the goods sold, and they use it buy food and clothes for those who have none.  Also, around Christmas they give money to kids so that they can purchase toys in the store.  This way the kids can receive some gifts, and at the same time, learn what it’s like to pay for goods (an experience many spoiled, wealthy children are cheated out of). 

With that third link, the St. Vincent de Paul “recycling” chain is completed.  The experience of working with this organization allowed me to see just how important civic duty is to our society.  For without it, who’s to say how many families and individuals would receive items that many of us take for granted.  I also learned through volunteering, that the civic duty of volunteering is still very alive and well to this day, and I couldn’t be happier to say that.  Clearly society is helped through volunteer work.  For if it wasn’t for volunteers, organizations like St. Vincent de Paul would possibly cease to exist.  So while there are many forms of civic duty, I feel that if individuals can merely make a decision to donate some of their time to helping others, our society would be better off.