St. James Food Pantry: How Homeless can Occur

As I worked during my service I noticed how much being there actually helped people like Fran who is a woman like no other which ran the service program and told us about the history of St. Mary’s and what it means to be part of the community whether if it is going to mass or helping by giving food to the church in order to help others who need it. By talking to Fran about what type of people the church identifies itself with and who they are seeking to help was very powerful to learn about and an educational experience. My presence by working with Fran opened my eyes to what needed to grow and develop within their community and how it can expand to other communities such as feeding those who cannot afford what others have and how gratitude is an essential part of being a well-rounded individual. I understood that what I was making was not the real focus but why I was making more than 100 candles to a community who showed devotion to its parish. The cans of food and packing them in to a basket in order to send it out was only a small portion of what mattered in terms of what is being done to help others. It was being able to think about what type of people we could be

A Homeless Task Force was created by the Mayor of Sidney, Ohio. He saw that there were homeless citizens who were suffering in the cold. He created a Task Force in order to start programming and community services for these individuals.

“We are Chicago's Jesuit Catholic university - a diverse community seeking God in all things and working to expand knowledge in the service of humanity through learning, justice, and faith.” In attempt to fulfill this mission as a student of Loyola University of Chicago, I decided to volunteer at the Lakeview Pantry. Personally, I believe that this was the most efficient way to effectively volunteer while being myself. I aim to either cultivate or participate in physical change, and at Lakeview, I could.

Poverty reduction is a major goal and issue for many organizations such as the United Nations and The World Bank. The World Bank estimated that approximately 46 million Americans live in poverty (Olinto, 2013). Without services that help enough to end homelessness. They support homeless people, many people fail to realize that housing is often not enough to end homelessness. There are many ways that we can help homeless people, just by providing services.

Under overpasses, under graffiti-covered walls, and amid piles of trash, it is sad to see the America's homeless get by the best they can. Homeless build cardboard and plastic shelters, insulate abandoned cars, sleep on mattresses which have been thrown away, and store their belongings in garbage bags. I have also seen them use baby strollers to store their belonging in.

Christ house is an organization that empowers, heals spiritually, physically, and mentally, and providing clients with medical assistance in areas of their lives that needs stabilizing. Their demographics target the Washington, DC area, and clients are adult males who are predominately African–Americans. Their main goal is to provide health care to those who are sick and homeless, and addressing issues in order to break the cycle of homelessness. They also provide help with building resumes for those who wish to enter into the work force. This is one of their many ways of building and promoting community, and finding ways to eradicate negative behaviors that involve things such as the use of illicit drugs and involvement with the criminal justice

Starvation is defined as a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake which is below the level needed to maintain life. It's been said that one out of every nine people suffer from hunger and that's estimated to about 805 million people. Starvation is a serious problem because an average 9 million people die from it each year yet nobody seems to do anything about it. Especially us Americans. Us Americans represent 5 percent of this world's population yet we consume about thirty to sixty percent of everything.

There are multiple organizations that offer help to the homeless, or give them the necessary materials to their survival. Food Banks, Soup Kitchens and Homeless Shelters give similar opportunities to the displaced. They tend to the individuals that are less fortunate in the community. There are rules that come along with attending to these places, for example, you have to be clean and not use substances and you are not allowed to carry any weapons of any sort. Although these places offer food and homes they don’t offer medical care. Well, luckily there is an organization that does offer medical care and incorporates faith within their work. This organization named Christ House, offers many opportunities to become a new, also to turn your life

Every Wednesday and Friday, I served with the Last Call 4 Grace ministry. I helped provide meals for people who barely have a roof over their heads. First, the other volunteers and I formed an assembly line. Then, we packed food in to go boxes. On Wednesday of the first week, we packed pizza and brownies. On Friday, we packed hot dogs, potato chips, and cookies. During the following week, we packed burritos for the first day and rice with broccoli for the second. In addition to the main meal, we also provided bread, Halloween candy, and other sweets.

During my second service experience, I started out by doing more of the same. When I got there, I had to wait on standby to help someone take their new boxes full of groceries to their cars. The first person I helped was an elderly woman, who could not carry her boxes. So, I carried one box while one of the people working with me carried the other one for her. She was truly grateful and thanked us for the service. That was the bulk of my day, I had helped individuals, mostly those who were to old, to carry their boxes. These boxes were filled with some pasta, canned beans, granola bars, raisins and a bag of vegetables. All of these foods looked pretty good, and most of them provided a balanced diet. As a bonus, there were frozen lasagna plates

Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week is a week of events (normally scheduled the week before Thanksgiving) that seek to inform, educate, and enlighten students on the growing and immediate need for attention to the sector of the population that is undoubtedly underserved and less fortunate in social class. The Office of Multicultural Programs established and annually organizes these events. The purpose of this program is to teach students (whether directly or indirectly) to be more engaged and engrossed in the lives of others not like themselves in the QU community and the greater Quincy area.

My first activity that I was involved in with Catholic Social Services was the food pantry. As my children progressed through high school, I knew certain classes or clubs were involved with participating in food drives. Our house was one of the most targeted homes for quite some time as we live directly across the street from St. Michael’s Elementary School which is where some of the organizations met. St. Cecilia’s is also a school that requires wearing a uniform and, occasionally, the kids could have a free jeans day if each student brought in so many items for the food pantry and my children were no different than a lot of the others…they wanted to wear jeans so they would raid my pantry to take food to school. I did not really give it much thought at the time when I was pulling food from my pantry of how this small act of kindness would help others. I knew there was a need for the food otherwise the food drive would not take place. I was so naïve in my thought process at that time. The night that I helped sort food at the food pantry was a major eye opener.

According to a journal written by Sarah Strickhouser, “Hunger is a physiological state, hunger describes the physical pain and discomfort an individual experience, food insecurity is a social, cultural or economic states and as such, is simpler to conceptualize and measure” food insecurity is a much bigger problem, and exceeds the standard definition of “hunger.” Even when the elderly has food, the quality of the food does not meet their nutritional needs and to say that these people are “hungry” is maybe implying that there is a much greater degree of need.

This summer I worked at Broad Street Ministries. It’s a church that’s a major staple in their community and the homeless. They provide drop in shelter services such as mailing, meals at different times through the week, social services, after school programing, summer camp, enrichment classes and much more. Their goal is to build a community that fosters a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment that provide upscale meals to those less fortunate. My overall opinion of the operation is that it has great values, provide quality services, and strives for excellence in all aid provided.

To cut down on the expenses, the company will encourage part time volunteer services to help with the preparation and serving of the foodstuffs. The company is already operating a food store, and therefore, the need for legal paperwork will be minimal. The company will seek all the necessary documents to ensure that the exercise is conducted within the law. To jumpstart the project, there is a need to have several kitchens where the food preparation will be conducted. Additionally, the company will use its shops to serve the registered beneficiaries.