The Day Of The Holiday On September 26

September 8th my first day back to school is a very important day for me. That day became one of the most meaningful events of my life. I consider this day to be a very important day in my life because it was the first step into shaping up my future and making a better living for my family.

In the student center on the Marietta campus, I along with a friend of mine, assisted in making sandwiches for the homeless. I observed and 30 fellow students rally together and make 500 sandwiches. This action will help provide food for many homeless citizens.

This past summer, I acquired an internship at Baldwin and Lyons, an insurance company in Indianapolis. Every Wednesday during my internship, a couple of employees and I would participate in a prodigious community service project, Meals on Wheels. Throughout the three months that I worked at Baldwin and Lyons, I got acquainted with some of the individuals whom we delivered to. These inspiring individuals were so grateful and appreciative that we took time out of our day to volunteer to do such a service. One elderly woman who we delivered to would sing to us as she came to the front door “good meals, good meals, good meals.” She is one woman that I will never forget. First going into this, I was elated knowing I was I getting out of the

During the time I spent volunteering at John C. Lincoln’s Food Bank, I was able to provide food, individual hygiene items, and infant supplies to families struggling to obtain these critical items for their families. When I first arrived at the food bank, I spent time constructing care packages with soap, toothbrushes, personal wipes, and other essential items for health care. Later in the day, I had the unique opportunity to assist with the simulated grocery store within the food bank. The structure of the store allowed individuals receiving food to feel as though they were actively participating instead of passively accepting food and feeling helpless. Overall, I was able to instill a sense of self-efficiency in individuals who were struggling to provide for their families while personally interacting and sharing my time in a meaningful way.

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.

According to the survey conducted by the U.S conference of Mayors, 67% of adults requesting emergency food aids are people with jobs. Recently, American food banks are experiencing a “torrent of need which they cannot meet”. In Maine, Ms Ehrenreich needed immediate food aid or cash assistance as she was new to the place and most of

We went to the store and bought toiletries, bread, peanut butter and jelly, water, juice boxes, and many other things to distribute to the homeless around town. These items were essentials that were desperately needed by these people, and the money we raised in order to get these items went a long way. We were very nervous about just walking up to people and passing these things out, the idea of a stranger coming up to you and handing you items is a scary thought in itself, but being on the other end is even scarier because you don’t know how others will react.

Volunteering at a local soup kitchen has become an important activity that humbles me, having witnessed the difficulties this population faces. The Christian Medical Association Homeless Meals Program at Wayne State University School of Medicine will allow me to continue this type of community outreach.

Early one November morning a woman stared at me with utter disbelief, tears of gratitude streaming down her cheeks."Thank you," she mouthed silently to me, clutching her son to her chest. I was proud knowing that, because of my efforts, her family and many more who struggle with poverty would be able to share a Thanksgiving meal. I knew that many children in my community would not be able to celebrate the holiday as others might because their parents could not afford to buy food items, and so as Vice President of a community service club called Interact, I was inspired to provide these children with a Thanksgiving dinner. The club officers and I sat crowded around our adviser's desk brainstorming how we would collect ingredients. We decided

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.

Catonsville emergency food ministries (CEFM), which provides food, and household supplies to the homeless and needy population, is where I did three hours of my service hours. All though this was not my first choice, as I thought I could not learn anything from it, and it would be boring and not engaging. I was wrong; I didn’t know the work and knowledge that went into planning, for the day to day operation of a food bank. The building itself was small, and lack adequate space for storage, and working. The week prior they lost all of their meat supplies due to a freezer malfunction, which left a slight death smell in the building. The volunteers were very nice and helpful in showing me around, and answering question. I was actually surprised that one of the volunteers was 16, and was doing it just to get out of the house.

On Wednesday, February 7th 2018 it was my first time volunteering with Martha's Table. I signed up to volunteer at the clothing store, known as Martha's Outlet, but the volunteer coördinator directed me to the kitchen because they needed more staff. I was quite excited to work in the kitchen because I love cooking and organizing. When I got to the kitchen, I put on an apron, gloves, and hair net to make sure a sanitary place. My first task was to organize the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that organizations such as law firms, schools, and churches. I organized hundreds of sandwiches that were given out for free at dinner as well as in the lobby of Martha's Table. Another task I did while at dinner and the dishes was to go outside and

On August 4, 2015, Vivian Cu and I chose to volunteer at the Second Harvest Food Bank located on 700 Edwards Ave. in New Orleans. Our Tuesday morning of service started at 9AM and ended around 11:30AM. In preparation for my first time at Second Harvest, I wore comfortable clothes that were easy to move around in and that were possible to get dirty in. The man in charge of all volunteer services, Vince, quickly gave me my duty for the day. There is a huge case of canned goods and my job was to put as many canned goods as possible on a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt would carry these cans to many aisles where other volunteers would put them into smaller boxes that had to weigh from fifteen to thirty pounds. After packaging these boxes, Second

The homeless men, women and children we serve are food insecure. We will provide proper nutrition to hundreds of people each day which improves basic health. One addicted young women came to us fleeing an abusive relationship. She had been on the streets for weeks and had not eaten in 2 days.

Another individual whom I had the pleasure of meeting was Juliann. She is the main person in charge of running the show. She is the one that showed me the ins and out of how this place worked. And once she did I was able to jump right in and help out. I never knew just how much hard work goes into feeding the community. I started off by dividing up the food that came off the delivery trucks, I then went to scan the food to make sure the food was fresh and able to be handed out to the families. After that we would package the foods for the Tuesday pick-ups. Each Tuesday, the families would line up and we would give them bags of groceries that would hopefully last them a few weeks. The faces on these families were priceless; the look they gave was one that was unforgettable. You can truly tell that they really appreciate everything that was offered to them. Once the Tuesday pickups were completed, we would then store all of the left-over food and plan for the next trucks deliveries. While completing this process, I often found myself asking, “Why aren’t we able to serve more food, nor are we able to allow more families to come and gather food?” It was not until Juliann explained to me that all of the food they receive are either left overs, food that has lost its shelf life at local grocery stores and other donations that the local stores may drop off. So in essence, if the