Volunteering

Volunteering has been on my heart for awhile but for whatever reason not until this last month or so did i begin to actively look for places to volunteer. I joined volunteer meetups hoping that this would give me the opportunity to volunteer and as i wrote weeks back i missed one opportunity and then another one presented itself on Saturday. The volunteer work was at a soup kitchen ---the morning shift from 8 am-12 pm. Now everyone that knows me i am a later riser than that but i figured it was about sacrifice and its about doing something from someone else. after dragging myself out of bed after such a long week in DC for work and visiting friends I arrived at the soup kitchen at 805. I was worried because i was late but come to find out i was one of the first people to arrive (I arrived along with another girl). After introductions the organizer gave me and the girl cake duty. I'm like oh Lawd that should be interesting but it was easy 5 eggs 1/2 cup of oil. spray can and pop the huge cake in the oven. We did a total of 8 batches of cake and it was such a nice time talking to the girl..come to find out shes a fine arts student so we got talking about art. Our next assignment was handing out color tickets to the homeless people based on age. I was overwhelmed how many people were there.You know theres a great need you cant walk down many corners without seeing many people holding up signs but to be face to face with people..ahh..that's something else. I breathe and said Lawd let me be your hands and feet.


My next assignment was the breakfast line serving beverages. I greeted everyone and asked what they wanted..some people had lots of humor...some thanked me for my service and there was one grumpy person but overall it was so nice serving. Then after an hour on the breakfast line it became self service and i was moved to the bread station for the majority of the time. ive never seen so much bread in my life (30 bags of bread). The goal was too slice up the bread to be served for lunch.

After being at the station for 15 minutes it was break time for us 12 volunteers over breakfast where the organizer told us about the soup kitchen and how it was started by two NYU profressors eventhough its not affilated with NYU and later the tradition is still going on. This place was to provide a space for peace and dignity for the homeless. Hearing that statement resonated soo much for me that i had a "this is it moment" this is the place i want to devote my time. I looked across the room and saw the Bless Scriptures (Matthew 5:3-11). It was definitely confirmed this was a place for me. she went on to say lunch time is their primary purpose but people started to line up early so they decided to include breakfast as well. They have a computer set-up and a social worker available during the time there. It was amazing to see how many men here and literally see a few women sprinkled about. The organizers went on to say everything is prepared by the volunteers and its about a healthy wholesome meal ...meatloaf, vegetables, salad, fruit, and cake and they serve it like a waiter in a resturant. There is no line service here. There 's is a koshery bakery that donates their breads and pastries because they cannot sell something from sunup to sundownand they do not want it going to waste. the more i listened the more i loved this place.

It was time to get back to work so more slicing of the bread for awhile and i got to meet more volunteers who were also at the bread station. I loved when i looked around there was so much diversity among the workers. Lastly it was time to cut the cake because other people iced..so i was the first one to start cutting...um can i say mine was not pretty the cake started falling apart ..it was a mess. The organizer said this is why i don't cut the cake. lol. and another guy said its beautiful but i know you're like he's lying. i said yes i do but I'm going to say you are not lying...you are trying to encourage me. lol. So i decided i wasn't going to cut any more cakes so one of my bread station people decided to grab a cake to cut and i decided i would plate them on the cart. she was having a hard time taking it out and said whoever did this did not put enough oil in this pain. i just said tsk tsk...yes my identity was hidden since she wasn't here when the cakes were done. lol. But a good time was had and that was my last assignment. I enjoyed it so much that i signed up for the following Saturday. Volunteering certainly does my heart good.No one else showed up from my meetup but i didnt care. I did something that was rewarding so i was glad i showed up.