Volunteering at Jireh Sports: April 6, 2013 9am-12noon (3hours)
This is volunteer opportunity was pretty straightforward. Those of us that went came in and had the job of cleaning pretty much anything and everything that needed a good ole’ scrubbing. The main areas that we took care of were:
a) main gymnastic gym- We scrubbed down and sanitized every piece of gymnastic equipment possible, mats, pads, beams, bars, etc.
b) main lobby
c) bathrooms
d) weight room equipment in Gym #3
e) kitchen area
f) Learning Center- Took hundreds of books of the shelf and sanitized them as well as the shelves they were on. We sanitized tables, chairs, computer equipment, as well as a bunch of other learning equipment.
e) Outside- We picked up trash in both the front and back of the building.
Although this was a down and dirty job, I wondered if that type of cleaning had ever been done in the building before. Although we didn’t get to meet or see any of the kids that used the building, I know for a fact they will be appreciative that they get to use clean and sparkling equipment and that the facilities are more organized and neat. From a health standpoint the sanitizing we did in the buildings will help prevent the spread of diseases that could potentially keep any of their athletes out of competition.
I felt pretty accomplished with the amount of work that our group accomplished over a 3-hour time period. At the end, the man working there told us he was grateful of the work and allowed us to try out and “play” on the gymnastics equipment for a few minutes because it would stink to clean the equipment and not get to play on it. So different people from our group tried out the springy floor, the balance beams, the trampoline, the parallel bars, the uneven bars, and the rings. It was fun to attempt to use any of those items–not that any of us knew any tricks or skills. It gave me a sense of understanding how tough of a sport most of these kids were involved in and the type of training and skill required to be good at gymnastics.