My community service was served in a pretty unique way. One of my hours was served at the Ogallala Retreat but my other ten were during the week of the Pioneer Days Rodeo. During this week I did many things from serve food, visit the elderly, and help with the rodeo itself. I am actually the Pioneer Days Rodeo Queen so I got to do more things than I usually do.
While I was visiting all the local nursing homes, I met many new people. I got to help get them where they needed to be and just got to visit with them. They were all so happy that someone wanted to listen to their story or where they came from. They would just light up when they would see us walk through the door. One of them almost ran to meet us at the door because she was so happy. All of them had a cool story to tell and there was always a lesson in them. Some of them never have anyone visit them so it was nice to get to make someone happy. One of the harder things about it was the ones who had dementia. They would tell us a story over and over again or ask who we were. I just couldn’t help but think that their families had to deal with this and it hurt them. They have to look at someone who once knew everything about them and now they have to ask their own kids things about themselves. We also help with the Pioneer Women’s Breakfast. During the breakfast we serve everyone who came and just go around and make sure everyone has everything they need. Many of the women who came lived back when they had to churn butter by hand and they actually taught us how to churn it right there.
The rodeo is a very big event each year and takes many people to make it run smoothly. I carry a flag for the sponsors of the rodeo. There are about 20 sponsor flags that have to be run in before and in the middle of each performance. I also helped the contestants get what they need and where they need to be. At the end of the rodeo I also got to meet a lot of people as they were leaving the rodeo. It was a great experience and look forward to it again.
