Volunteering Experience: Plant Chicago
Danny Xu
8/13/20252 min read
Be Sure to Check Out Plant Chicago's Website Here: https://www.plantchicago.org/
Recently, I was given the opportunity to volunteer at Plant Chicago, an organization focused on sustainability, hosting events focused on growing plants, educating others about the environment, and hosting drives to repurpose items. I learned that I enjoy connecting with nature because out of the jobs I did, feeding chickens and growing plants was the most fun for me. Overall, I found it meaningful that I was able to put in over 30 hours of time to help them with activities that were beneficial to the environment.
What did I do?
When we grew plants, it was fun for me and it was definitely a unique experience especially growing mushrooms which is something I never experienced before. Something I also had never done before was feed chickens and at Plant Chicago, they had about ten that I could feed when I visited. However, I think the most meaningful activity was actually sorting donations like seeds, batteries, and clothes that they would distribute to those that needed them, which was definitely impactful for the community, environment, and organization. The repurposing of items decreased waste in landfills which cuts back on greenhouse gas emissions and donating seeds to other allowed more plants to be grown which takes in more carbon dioxide, also decreasing the effects of global warming. We also did some smaller tasks only a couple time like creating compost for plants, helping prepare mushroom growing classes, and picking up trash in the local park.
Some Other Key Takeaways
By organizing clothes, I realized that lack of clothing was a real issue for many in our community that I knew existed but never really confronted or had much initiative to make a change and it was nice to finally help out with providing for people. It was nice to see organizations like plant chicago take action to help out and we also got a ton of donations which also demonstrated other people in the community are also trying to help out showing the strength in our community to face the challenges some people may be going through. I think I also learned how important it is to truly enjoy the work one is doing because it makes the time go by a lot quicker and it does not even feel like real work. Again, when I was feeding the chickens it didn’t feel like work but something I genuinely wanted to do and I think that’s an important lesson to apply for the future as well.