While interning with The Washington Center we are encourage to become civically engaged. I was able to participate in the 2009 Help the Homeless Walkathon, which helped to raise money for the homeless in D.C. I was able to serve breakfast for members of N Street Village; an organization that helps to provide underprivileged women with a place to stay and provides them various other support programs. On the day of the walkathon we met outside the Old Post Office Pavilion and ate breakfast together. Then as a group we walked to the National Mall to participate in the walk. The walk started on the National Mall and made its way around the Jefferson Memorial and back to the National Mall. This was a great opportunity to help make a difference in peoples lives and a great deal of good will come to the homeless in the city because of this walk.

The next day two of my friends, Kyle, Jack, and I decided to go to the National Zoo. It was a very nice day and pretty warm for this time of the year, so it was a great place to go walk around outside and enjoy the weather. I soon found out that we were not the only ones who thought it was a good opportunity to go to the zoo, because it was packed. The main exhibit at the zoo was the panda bears. The pandas are on loan from China and will soon be going back, so it was a good chance to see them before they go back.

The best part about the zoo was that it was free and the next best thing was the lions and tigers. There was only one of each, which was kind of disappointing, but still cool. The tiger was walking around, but the lion was sitting there chewing on a bone.

About a week before we went to the zoo a baby deer managed to jump into the lion cage and the hunt was on. The lions attacked the deer, but the deer was able to get away and the zookeepers were able to get the deer away from the lions. The deer suffered a great deal of wounds from the lions and had to be put down. So much for the cutie and cuddly lions everyone thinks of.

I’m not really into birds and don’t really like them at all, especially all the pigeons that are everywhere here, but I was pretty excited to be able to see the eagles. They are surprisingly big. My friend Jack was very excited about going to the petting zoo. To his disappointment most of the animals just stayed in the back of their cages and wanted nothing to do with the hoards of kids. All in all we had a great time at the zoo and if the weather is nice, this is a great place to go on a Sunday afternoon.