Michael Mangiante
Wakefield, RI
Class of 2008
Where do you volunteer?
I volunteer with a mission group from the Jamestown Central Baptist Church for one week each summer doing carpentry, plumbing, and painting for families in need. I also volunteer with my Boy Scout troop, Troop 1 Kingston, for various local community projects.
Describe exactly what you do for your mission work and what it means to you.
Each summer a small group of people and myself, ages 10-70, spend a week directly helping families improve their living conditions that they would not be able to do on their own. During the first summer, I helped do the plumbing and painting of a building that would be used to house volunteer groups. We also repainted the house of a single mother with two small children. From this first experience, I decided to volunteer every year to help people who were struggling to provide for their families.
The next summer, we helped a 22 year old woman and her five year old daughter who had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. They lived in an old trailer with black mold, kerosene fuel odor, and large holes in the floors. Strewn across the yard where the girl played were nails, insulation, and sharp metal pieces from a dismantled trailer and abandoned cars. We replaced the floors, painted the soot-covered walls, and disposed of the dangerous objects. Before we arrived, the young mother had been depressed and unmotivated to work. I will never forget her final words of gratitude, “You have changed my life forever.” From our help, she felt invigorated and planned to study business at a local college.
During this past summer, we built and painted handicap ramps and railings for two families. The mother of one family was diagnosed with Lupus Disease, an autoimmune disorder. She is the mother of four young children. We built a wheelchair ramp for her on an existing deck. Though the mother had been diagnosed with Lupus, she still held a job, cleaned the house, took care of her four children, and even made us lunch. I was impressed with her inner strength and grateful that we could help her.
Why do you volunteer to do mission work each summer?
I learned the importance of how a single gesture of kindness can change the course of a person’s life. My simple good deeds helped families, a mother and child, and people with debilitating illnesses. People think of community service as something that they must to do for school or because they feel it is the right thing to do. However, for me, community service has become a part of my life. Wherever I attend college, and whatever I chose to do as a career, helping others and supporting my community will always be an important aspect of the way I live.
The Goddard Scholarship is sponsored by the American Fundraising Professionals. You were awarded this scholarship because of your fundraising efforts. Please describe them.
For the last three years, I have worked on fundraising events for three organizations in Rhode Island. These events involved raising over $300,000 for the following causes:
• Renovate the Dutch Island Lighthouse
• Renovate a building as a museum and office space for the Jamestown Historical Society
• Support the David Cicilline for Mayor of Providence Campaign. This event was an outreach project to explain to people outside of Providence the mayor’s education program and how it would impact the other school districts in the state.
What perspectives have you gained from working on fundraising events?
It is through fundraising, these simple get-togethers, that individuals become aware of how they can help their community. The generosity of people can make our world into a better place. These fundraisers have been a tremendous learning experience that I will never forget, and will one day carry on myself.
How has The Prout School impacted or affected your perception of community service?
The Prout School has significantly impacted my perception of community service because Prout prides itself on building community and helping others around us. As a result, I have begun to give back to the community that has helped me so much over the years.
What does the Prout School do to assist your community service efforts?
The main way that The Prout School helps with my community service efforts is that it requires me to do a certain amount of community service every year. This gives me a goal to work towards and always prompts me to do mission work each summer or volunteer with the Boy Scouts over and over again.
You are also an Eagle Scout – how has this impacted you?
I have learned through my scouting experience that to have an Eagle Scout badge is not a badge for an individual, but a badge for the community. I have made it through scouts with the help of the people who support me. Now it is my turn to help those in need. Scouts has taught me how to be organized and plan for the future, but most of all it has taught me the importance of helping those around us.
What are your plans for next year?
Next year I plan to go on to college, but I also plan on staying active in community service. I feel that no matter what I do in life, I will always be helping the community in one way or another, because helping others is truly the backbone of our society.