By Camila Crews
All I heard was the constant tapping of phone keys, the sounds of phones hanging up and the murmer of college students, these are the sounds that filled the small office space for two hours of non-stop phone calls.
Our mission was to contact people for an annual walk for AIDS, to see if they would take part in the walk. The night before I was overcome with excitement when I found out that the Eighth Annual NU Service Day had been canceled. I thought YES, now I don’t have to get up at 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning. But once I came home at 3 a.m. that morning I realized that those who had signed up for outdoor clean up projects would be the only one’s sleeping in that morning.
What could I do? It was my own fault, as vice-president of Northeastern Black Media Association, I took on the task of persuading my group to work on the AIDS Committee rather than the Mission Hill or Roxbury Clean-up, so I would be able to keep my French manicure neat and dirt-free.
After eating a free continental breakfast which included donuts, bagels, coffee, juice and a motivational speech from the emcee, my group trudged out into the rain and we were off to a top secret location. Once inside we were separated into two groups, one group would go outside, while the other would stay in-house and make phone calls. I weighed my options, go in the rain and be cold and wet for two hours or stay in a warm office building in a soft cushioned chair while staying warm and dry. Needless to say I chose option number two.
In the beginning I was very apprehensive, I don’t like to be harassed, especially not on a Saturday morning by unsolicited callers and I did not want to do the same to other people. However, after finding out that we were calling people who have already participated I felt a lot better about doing it.
After taking a swig of a steaming cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee with extra cream and six sugars, I was ready to go. About an hour into it I was feeling energized and excited. Even though I had talked to more answering machines than people I still felt I had a purpose and felt I had accomplished something. The few people that I did talk to on that dreary morning were more than happy to talk to me, and they were excited, not bothered that I had called them. After tallying up my phone calls I had made 70 phone calls in total and only spoken to five people. This did not discourage me and made me feel as if I had done nothing at all, I was left with a feeling of self fulfillment.
Sacrificing a few hours of sleep for a good cause was well worth it. I feel that giving back is something that is very important and we should all try to do it whenever possible. It is very easy to get swallowed up into our lives on campus. Sometimes I feel as if I only exist within the Northeastern community. Things and people I love most that exist on the outside, suffer because at times I forget that there is life outside of classes, extracurricular activities and parties.
Next time you happen to walk by a flyer that is advertising something such as a walk whether it be for hunger or AIDS, sign up, it may prove to be more of an experience than you ever expected.
