Personal Narrative: Privilege At The Oklahoma Regional Food Bank

It is quite funny how such a mess can be made when 16 cousins are put in a small room with food. It was Thanksgiving around 12:30 when we all said grace, pushed in line for food, and finally sat down, kids and adults in separate rooms. What would happen in the kid’s room is something that I would not soon forget.

Community service, as I have come to learn, is all about taking the initiative to help someone in need, no matter their situation. As the verse Matthew 25:35 says above, it is our job to share God’s love through serving those who are hurting right in front of us. These people are strangers, we may not know them, but that does not mean they should not be helped. Over the course of my life I have had the opportunity to participate in a multitude of service projects, but the one I am most passionate about is the Harvesters Community Food Network.

In this regard, the most important part of service to me personally is giving back to the community. Volunteering is my way of providing service to others, it is not only effective, but it’s a good way to meet people, to learn, and to develop social skills. By helping or supporting others, I learned and used new skills in communicating with people and I have gained confidence in myself through different interactions. Providing aid to a family in need or helping out an elementary teacher is necessary, because as people it should be our natural tendencies to support one another, and bring aid when aid is due. For example, at Seven Lakes High school I created the Girls for Krause Club. It was given the name the Girls for Krause club after the Krause Center; a center in Katy that fosters girls who have been taken out of their homes due to sexual harassment, parental mistreatment or mental issues. My first visit to the Krause Center was with my youth group at church. I was so touched by all the girls at the center, and how open they were about their situation. I remember one of the girls telling me thank you, for treating her like “a regular person.” This interaction gave me the incentive to create the Krause club, because I wanted to allow other girls my age to interact with these girls and bring attention to a center that wasn’t well known in my community. Moreover, creating the Krause club has been rewarding and a way to showcase

Serving others is a down deep way of learning more about yourself and helping others to see past themselves. Our Business and Professional Communication class participated in several service projects, which were interesting and exciting to be involved with helping others. As I am studying the major courses of Early Childhood/Special Education, our group project with the “Big Brothers Big Sister” program was very memorable to me. It was wonderful to have fun and participate in various activities with the kids. The environment was caring due to everyone helping each other accomplish different tasks. It was a great feeling to be able to share our time, talents, and hearts with the kids.

From day one my mom taught me that you will get more satisfaction giving to and helping others than you ever will by just doing things for yourself. I truly believe this. Volunteering to teach swimming lessons, organizing recycled items, and visiting the nursing home are all things I have been involved in and doing each of those I have learned more and more about how important service is. Just recently my classmates and I helped an elderly woman move all of her belongings out of her home and into the 4H building for an auction. The 4H building is on the fairgrounds where I have volunteered to clean up every spring for the last 3 years. Service is very important but also very rewarding. I look toward to doing more service projects in the

I was able to witness some of these experiences first-hand through my volunteerism in soup kitchens and inner city schools. As the soup kitchen employed a restaurant-style design, while serving, I felt I was granting the patrons with the hospitality that they deserved. After observing first hand the effects of poor education, I began proudly tutoring young people in the hopes to quietly inspire them to set big goals and to prevail over social barriers. As a result from these experiences, I learned more about my fellow Philadelphians and began sharing their perspective on the

My community service experience at All Souls Friday Soup Kitchen taught me the impoverished population of New York City and myself. The volunteer work pushed me to better myself in several areas. Serving the diners helped me expand my social skills with fellow workers and customers by forcing me to communicate with others. Also, setting up and deconstructing the dining room helped grow my management skills by having me order where the plates, mugs, etc. should be placed. Most importantly, working at the kitchen helped humanize the poor population of New York City for me. Often on the subway and on the sidewalk, I try my hardest to avoid the homeless man or woman begging for money, acting like they didn’t exist. Gratefully, my experience at

Two years ago, I was sitting in a dimly lit packing room, wedged between a stalled out pale yellow refrigerator and a stack of boxes, packed to the brim with all sorts of canned fruits and vegetables. People worked quickly here, moving boxes from one corner of the room to another, creating a rhythm of sorts. Thump. Swoosh. Thump. Swoosh. The boxes left in droves as lines of people congregated around the open warehouse door with open hands ready to accept what was offered while statements of gratitude leapt from their tongues. The amount of people waiting outside far outnumbered the volunteers, but the volunteers worked hard, they knew they had to today. It was 104 degrees outside and some of these people standing in line, with children in tow, had been waiting for hours. It was distribution day at the South Texas Food Bank and I was there to help.

knowledge through my experience and helping less fortunate made me a better person. It changes my perception on how and why I see the world and the people around me. I become a well-rounded person, it opened my hearts to understand and taught me a better way to connect with people.

The happiness that I received from giving to the needy has helped better prepare me for my job and it has given me special skills to help me with my current and future job. Jonathan E. Booth wrote,“Wilson emphasized that knowledge acquired from volunteering can lead to socioeconomic achievement in the workplace, which may result in a more positive reputation on the job, help in finding future work, or enhancement of the quality of [the current] job (Booth Pg 233).” The knowledge that I left with after feeding the homeless has helped me to be effective in job and my everyday life. It has helped me to have a more positive attitude and has made me more equipped in my job and my hobbies. Mr. Booth said,“While

All over the world, there are over 3,000,000,000 people living on less than $3.50 per day. However, even though there are many men, women, and children in our own country who live like this, there are others who live without a care in the world. These people need to take the time to realize that the basic necessities that they take for granted such as plumbing, water, food, and health care, could be the greatest luxury to someone across the world, or maybe even in their own country.

In the face of a weak economy, America’s cultural communities are proving to be resilient. Enduring through these difficult times takes courage and commitment; our diverse communities are an excellent reflection of people creating change in the world. As economic conditions continue to worsen, our communities have taken the opportunity to improve their conditions together. Right here in Sacramento we are privileged to have the strength and support of the SFBSF (Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services). Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services has been actively helping the needy in Sacramento communities since 1976, when it was founded by Father Madigan. This report will focus on the details, history, and potential of the Sacramento Food Bank

The Food Bank volunteering helped me become a better person. Before this program, I didn’t really value of the food that I have every day or the food that I through it away because I did not like it. I did not realize there are many hungry people, right in our community, go to bed at night and their stomach are empty. After helping out at the Food Bank and talking to Sydney, I stopped eating food for fun. Now, I only eat what I need and keep the rest for next meal , instead of buy everything or coke more than what I need and ended up throwing half of the meal away just because I couldn’t eat it all. Also, after going to the Food Bank a few times, I learn that small things in life can make big differences. For example, MSU Food Bank is collecting

I participated in service learning at Fraser school in Richfield. Starting in September I helped out in a toddler age classroom every Thursday. Fraser school is a preschool setting for infants and toddlers. Besides getting the children kindergarten ready and offering a somewhat typical day of daycare/school, Fraser offers occupational, physical, and speech therapy. Some of the children have disabilities and some do not, Fraser is not discriminatory and they provide care for anyone. Some of the things I did in the classroom were prepare snack and lunch for the children, play games, participate in art projects, music, and reading, and play games with the children. The two teachers really appreciated my help, as I was provided an extra hand for them while they prepared daily activities. Playtime was usually hectic for the group and it needed to be closely monitored. I was also able to keep the children safe and keep a close eye on the total of twelve toddlers during playtime. My experiences at Fraser helped me understand many topics we talked about in our Intro to Sociology class. A few topics that stood out to me the most were the idea of social integration and many of the functions of the education system, the three stages in the development of self, institutional discrimination with minority and group divisions.

Volunteering to feed the homeless is truly an eye opening experience to what reality is. There is an estimated one hundred million homeless people in the world who are starving and are trying to find a way to survive. On a day-to-day basis, we see homeless people everywhere such as on the streets, by the freeway asking for money so they can feed themselves, or maybe even feed their own family. One day, my mom and I decided we had to take action after witnessing so many homeless people on the streets.When people are in such a difficult situation, their only option is to beg for money because they have no roof over their head, and no food to eat. Many of these people are suffering from their own decisions, unemployment, or for other personal reasons. There are many homeless people who are sick and suffering from severe mental illnesses. It breaks my heart seeing homeless people in the streets, so I knew I had to take action and help out someway. The experience of volunteering to feed the homeless was most certainly a life changing experience. It made me realize how grateful I am for my life, how important it is to help those in great need, and to never take a meal for granted or roof for granted. This event was one that happened in the spur of the moment but has also changed me as a a person by becoming more involved and helping out more in my community , learning to never taking anything for granted, and by not assuming all homeless people are bad people as such.