Today’s post comes from Alex El Sehamy, a Make A Difference Day honoree in 2010.

Whether it is a service project helping the homeless, the hungry, or cleaning up the environment, there is clearly a constant call to action for people to volunteer in one way or another. Be that as it may, there are many of us who decide not to volunteer, and unfortunately, are perfectly fine with that.

I say, why bother with them when there are plenty of people out there who want to help others and will get so much more out of it? And no, I’m not necessarily talking about you and me.

I’m talking about those who are often pegged as “disabled”, “incapable”, or “challenged”. I’m talking about those with developmental disabilities.

There is a broad spectrum of chronic mental or physical conditions that lead to a developmental delay but regardless, the idea here is that these people can do just as much as we can to help others, and may even get more out of it than we can even know.

This is an idea that has been proven to the world through organizations such as the Special Olympics and other advocacy groups. As far as I’m concerned, there is still much more that can be done to show that this group of people is just as “handicapable” as anyone else.

My mother and I began planning service projects to feed the homeless several years ago, and have been doing so regularly ever since. Being recognized by HandsOn Network for our project in 2009 made us never want to stop.

Based on my general interest in mental health, I was very excited to hatch a new plan with the help of my fraternity brother Guy Blelloch. My fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha, decided to partner with Best Buddies, an organization that pairs students with developmentally disabled people in order to nurture a positive, constant relationship that will be rewarding for them both.

To take our service initiative one step forward, we’ve decided to spread the concept of helping others to a group of people with hearts of gold that may not have any idea that there are people out there who even need to be helped.

This Make a Difference Day, we will be making peanut butter & jelly sandwiches with the residents of the AHRC Fineson Facility group home and putting them into meal packages to feed the homeless, all the while, celebrating Halloween with music, dancing, and decorations.

People with developmental disabilities are ecstatic to interact with people in any capacity. They are the most grateful people I have ever encountered, and are not bothered by the everyday matters that may hinder you and me from helping others.

Share the spirit of volunteering by reaching out today and invite some new faces to your next service project!

Please visit Best Buddies and sign up to be a buddy today!