Discovering meaningful ways for families to connect while giving back to the community can be an uplifting journey. For the Sampat family, this adventure began with a heartfelt desire to engage in service projects together. Their first experience with family volunteering at Pebble Tossers started with a Corporate Day of Service. This meaningful experience ignited a passion for helping others that continues to grow. Inspired by their initial foray, they have become dedicated champions of service, showing that when families unite with a common purpose, they can make a profound impact on their community and inspire others to do the same!
PT: Everyone starts somewhere! How did you get into volunteering?
SAMPAT FAMILY: As a family, we wanted to get more involved in service projects that we could do together. We first became involved with Pebble Tossers through Summit’s company, Booz Allen Hamilton, where we did a park landscaping project. After that, we learned of all the wide opportunities to give back to our community and have found them all to be very fulfilling.
PT Share an experience that has been particularly meaningful to you as a volunteer.
SAMPAT FAMILY: About 6 months ago, we volunteered with Pebble Tossers in a shared group home for older people with IDD (intellectual and/or developmental disabilities) called InCommunity. We had lots of fun together, baking a cake and playing bingo. However, the impactful part of this is how warm they were to us. The moment we entered, they accepted us with open arms, giving us a room tour and graciously inviting us into our home. Despite their differences, they still treated us with kindness, so we thought it was only right to repay their respect.
PT: Ishan and Maya, what impact has volunteering had on your life?
Ishan: Volunteering has had a large reflection on my life, as it gives me fulfillment, and in my opinion, the best way to live life is to live a fulfilled life. Service helps me achieve that, being remembered by other people. I’ve seen tremendous character growth due to service learning, and built skills such as empathy and compassion.
Maya: The impact that volunteering has on me is that it has helped me understand other people’s situations. This has motivated me to want to help those in need more. I have seen myself grow by learning how to help the earth and help other people in my community.
PT: Parents, how impactful has volunteering been for your family?
SAMPAT FAMILY: The impact of volunteering has been profound for our family. Not only it is a privilege to give back to our local community, we actually feel that we gain far more from the kindness and connection interacting with other people during these service projects. Volunteering helps our family, especially our children, feel a sense of purpose beyond themselves. It also helps us expand and appreciate the perspective towards others who we may not typically interact with, appreciating that we all have more in common with each other than our differences.
PT: What keeps you coming back and continuing to volunteer?
SAMPAT FAMILY: The desire to give back to our community, broaden our set of experiences, and network with others through service are motivating factors. Service also provides for us as a family opportunities to share and grow these experiences together. Pebble Tossers, in particular, is attractive given the breadth and depth of service and Leadership opportunities they have available.
PT: What message would you like to share with the community about volunteering?
SAMPAT FAMILY: Having a mindset for volunteering that centers around continuous self-learning as much as an opportunity to improve and give to others, I think there is also value in being vulnerable first with others through leadership and with humility to meaningfully engage with others in the community.
