I needed to do something in my community in order to complete the community service hours required to graduate from high school. Some of my friends had ___ to spend time at a ___, so I did, too. It seemed like a good ___ to do.

I thought that we would just be ____ passing out dinners to those in need, but I found out we would be doing everything from preparing to ___ the dinner. We began preparing the ___, from mixing salad dressing to separating frozen meat. Much still needed to be done before dinner was served, but already outside the building many homeless people were ___. It wasn’t until a couple of hours later that we ___ the doors and began serving dinner.

As the line of people came toward me, I got a little ___. While some of the people looked very ___, some of them looked so dangerous. I didn’t have too much time to ___ it. I was assigned (分配) to serve the salad. I ___ the task with a smile. To my ___, they smiled politely back at me.

I was so ___ that I had earned my service hours in this way. This ___ made me realize that there are so many people in this world who ___ our help. It also made me ___ that our small act of ___ can make them feel ___and make a great difference to them. I will never forget the way they looked at me when they were given food. I am anxious to ___ the world to do everything possible to help those in need.

Before I was born, my mom had worked as a nurse. However, she resigned (辞职) shortly after my birth to ________ me. After I turned 12, she ________ to work.

She left at 5:45 am, which left me ________ for waking myself up, preparing breakfast and walking to take the 7:30 am bus. I ________ being left home alone in the mornings. On days when she didn't go to the ________, she drove me both ways. Those were the ________ days.

One day, as we walked down the sidewalk, I saw an elderly man ________ us. He broke into a wide smile, but I didn't ________ him. “Leigh! Leigh!” he called my mother's name. I looked at him and smiled, unsure of my role.

“I hope you know how ________ you are!” he said after some small talk with Mom. I looked at him ________ since I had no idea what he was talking about.

“You have the most wonderful, ________ and lovely mother,” he said. “When I was in hospital last month, she took good care of me. Actually, young lady, I shall never ________ her.” Right then, I ________ what it meant for my mom to be a ________. She was caring for, serving and loving total ________, often during the darkest times in their lives. She cared for them and me, too.