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Adora Vang
Building Meaningful Relationships With Children
Volunteers for Youth and The Tulsa Zoo
Celina Davis: celina.d@volunteersforyouth.com
1700 S. Lynn Riggs Blvd.
Claremore, OK 74017
Lisa Laughrey: llaughrey@tulsazoo.org
6421 E 36th St N, Tulsa, OK 74115

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Adora Vang
Dr. James Ford
Leadership Study
14 October 2015
The Parent Child Center: 1421 S Boston Ave, Tulsa, OK 74119
Background Information
The Parent Child Center of Tulsa is a place with a mission, as listed on their website, who
focus on preventing child abuse and neglect through education, treatment, and advocacy. Some
of the important services this place offers include adult therapy, child therapy, shelter, and puppet
shows raising awareness about child abuse and neglect; they offer hope and security. They work
hard to end the vicious child abuse cycle by providing meaningful support and useful education
to both parents and children. Carol Sartin is the coordinator of volunteer services and can be
reached by her email: csartin@parentchildcenter.org.
Evidence of the Needs
Often times, new parents need help in raising their first child especially if they come from
a poor background or even possibly an abusive background whether it is from a spouse or parent.
Suffering such emotional trauma can affect their parenting skills and may promote unnecessary
harm to children. Child abuse can be a cruel cycle if not intervened immediately and correctly. If
a parent abuses their child, that child may grow up to be the same considering that child did not
have a good role model to look up to. That child does not know any better. The Parent Child
Center provides guidance for parents who did not have someone reliable to look up to or to those
who seek general help. Their site lists testimonials from people who have had help from this
organization and how it has positively impacted their life. For example, one woman decided to
seek help because she knew she had no dependable experience to raise her child. Hence, her
relationship with her little girl has improved and has been going well. Additionally, a woman was
experiencing a mentally abusive relationship with her husband and because of that she could not
properly give her boy the proper attention he needed. Fortunately, The Parent Child Center was
able to intervene to help her get back on track with her life. Now, she is able to spend more time
with her boy and start building a meaningful relationship with him. This place will also help and

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teach children how to cope with the situations they are going through. It can range anywhere
from bullying to sexual abuse. This organization gives them courage to speak up and let them
know that they are undeniably important human beings too. Children are at a very vulnerable and
malleable state. They should be protected so that better future generations can be created.
Objectives/ Career Background
By volunteering through this particular organization, I hope to help children who have
been through a tough time. I want to give them support, listen to them, be a voice for them, and
help them realize their full potential. I want to offer these children hope and be a light in their
life. Furthermore, I want to become a pediatrician in the future. Volunteering with this
organization will hopefully give me a head start in interacting with children. I hope to also begin
recognizing signs of child abused victims so that I may report it if the opportunity ever presents
itself whether it is in my career or just in my life. These children will definitely be helping me
discover myself as I try to help them do the same.
Involvement/ Accomplishment
Through this organization I will be helping out at the Tulsa Community Emergency
Shelter or directly at the Parent Child Center as help is needed. As parents attend support groups,
I will either play or set up activities for their children to enjoy. Moreover, every fourth Saturday
of each month I will have the opportunity to celebrate kids birthdays at the shelter. Family
activities are also set up every first, second, and third Sunday of each month so where I can help
I will be there interacting with families. The Parent Child Center also have a Kids on the Block
Puppet Program. If I can I will participate in puppet shows helping the organization teach kids on
how to deal with hardships. This will educate children on what to do if they ever need help.
Overall, I will be lending a helping hand with this organization to better the futures of both
parents and children.
Mid- Semester Time Log
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Art on the Hill Childrens Tent

September 18, 2015 10-11:30 a.m.
Reported to: Mai Vang
Volunteers for Youth Tutoring
October 7, 2015 4-5:30 p.m.
Reported to: Justin

I helped children with arts and crafts in the Childrens Tent for Art on the Hill. For Volunteers for
Youth, I tutored children as help was needed or requested from them. Even though volunteering

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at both places were slow, I had a fun experience and loved being around children. I enjoyed
being a helping hand. I encountered problems with my original proposal. I will no longer be able
to volunteer at the Parent Child Center because they are not able to have me anymore like they
initially said they would. Therefore, I will now be volunteering at Volunteers for Youth and the
Tulsa Zoo as a replacement to my original proposal. I will tutor and become a mentor to a child
for Volunteers for Youth. They have not found a mentee for me yet so until then I will just be
tutoring children. I am still waiting on my mentee which I am supposed to meet with once a
week for an hour. For the Zoo, I will help facilitate Hallowzooween, a trick or treating event the
Zoo puts on, by interacting with children through games, hay mazes, or wherever I am needed.
By volunteering for Volunteers for Youth, I got to be a tutor and they finally found me a
mentee. Though I was worried I would not get a mentee this semester, waiting for one was
definitely worth it because I got to build a personal, meaningful one on one relationship with a
child. I feel that really helped me build my skills in interacting with childrensomething that
will help me in my career as a pediatrician. As a tutor, I did not do much since the kids often did
not need help on their homework. This is something Volunteers for Youth should improve
because I felt tutors were there for nothing; it was very unproductive. Furthermore, volunteering
at the Tulsa Zoo for Hallozooween was extremely fun. I attended to different things each day I
went like monitoring the bean bag toss, handing out candy, and handing out maps. I got to
encourage all the kids that came to the event whenever they decided to play a game. Doing so
really made me happy because I got to make the children happy. Overall, I had a good time and
this really solidified why I want to work with kids in the future.
Anticipated Time- Line
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Tutoring October 21, 2015 4-5:30 p.m.

Hallozooween October 27, 2015 5:30-9:30 p.m.
Hallozooween October 28, 2015 5:30-9:30 p.m.
Hallozooween October 30, 2015 5:30-9:30 p.m.
Hallozooween October 31, 2015 5:30-9:30 p.m.
Tutoring November 4, 2015 4-5:30 p.m.
Tutoring November 11, 2015 4-5:30 p.m.
Tutoring November 18, 2015 4-5:30 p.m.
Tutoring November 25, 2015 4-5:30 p.m.
Tutoring December 2, 2015 4-5:30 p.m.
Anticipated Outcomes
Through all my volunteering services, I hope to bring joy and inspire all the
children I come to encounter. For my future mentee, I want to be a good and reliable role

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model- someone my mentee can always depend on. After this semesters community
service, I hope I will have learned more new and useful skills on building meaningful
relationships with children of all ages.
Time Log
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Art on the Hill Childrens Tent

September 18, 2015 10-11:30 a.m.
Reported to: Mai Vang
Volunteers for Youth Tutoring
October 7, 2015 4-5:30 p.m.
Reported to: Justin
Tutoring October 21, 2015 4-5:30 p.m.
Hallozooween October 27, 2015 5:30-9:30 p.m.
Reported to: Lisa Laughrey
Hallozooween October 28, 2015 5:30-9:30 p.m.
Hallozooween October 30, 2015 5:30-9:30 p.m.
Destination RSU October 31, 2015 10-12 p.m.
Hallozooween October 31, 2015 5:30-9:30 p.m.
Tutoring November 4, 2015 4-5:30 p.m.
Mentoring November 6, 2015 8-9 a.m.
Reported to: Celina
Tutoring November 11, 2015 4-5:30 p.m.
Mentoring November 13, 2015 8-9 a.m.
Tutoring November 18, 2015 4-5:30 p.m.
Mentoring November 20, 2015 8-9 a.m.
Tutoring November 25, 2015 4-5:30 p.m.
Conclusion
I have always loved being involved in community service, but this semester has really

broaden my perspective on civic duty. I feel RSU gave me more opportunities to give back to the
community; I did not always have to do school related volunteering like I did in high school.
Volunteering for Volunteers for Youth and the Tulsa Zoo just deepened my love for volunteering.
I was able to build relationships will several people and that helped me develop my skills in
interacting with people of all ages. Participating in community service was fun and reassured
why I want to continue doing it in my life.

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