Essay #5 ... Reflective Essay _ From Food Bank to Better Community

When I was younger, my grandma often brought me along with her to a temple near our house to help out the homeless and beggars that stay there. Because I was little, all I really did was following my grandma in the kitchen and do what I was told to do, which usually ended up as washing dishes. Thus, I didn’t really get to meet the people that came to the temple for food. Now looking back, I wished I had a chance to learn more about the people and their stories. After all, a person cannot live long enough to experience everything on her own so one way or another; she got to learn it from others. That’s why the moment I saw the opportunity to volunteer for the Highline Food Bank, I couldn’t stay away. It didn’t just bring back the old memory at the temple with my grandma but also, it allowed me to have a better understanding of the struggles that people have to face everyday and learn how lucky I am. The experience at the Highline Food Bank proved that everyone has the power to make a difference in their own lives and in the lives of others in the community.

As the project comes to an end, I realize it was so much more than I expected. Even though volunteering for the Food Bank was one of my top choices for the project this quarter, not everything started on a right note. The first Tuesday that I showed up for the Food Bank, the lady in charge of it wasn’t there. The Food Bank itself was a tiny, little room, about the size of a walk-in closet. In fact, it was so small that four people can make the room crowed. I like space and the size of the Food Bank was disappointing to me. However, the second time I was there, I got to meet Susan, the lady in charge of the Food Bank. She was so nice and sweet. She asked my group to make a box to hold donated, old cell phones and chargers that will be given to the “Soldiers to Soldiers” program. Sarah, Kathryn and I had a blast making the box as we blew up balloons with helium and decorate them. For the last two weeks, we went to the Food Bank every Tuesday to mostly help out with making advertisements to put up around campus. I have had such a great time that the whole thing didn’t feel like completing project assignment for Writing and Sociology at all. It’s also nice to know that as we put our posters up around the campus, more people come to the Food Bank for food. I’m really making a difference in my community and boy, it feels good!

The work I have done at the Food Bank makes the community a better place. Even though my group mainly makes posters and advertisements instead of actually hand out food to the hungry people, with our posters, we create awareness among the people in the community of the resources available. Without our posters, the people who are in need wouldn’t know where to turn to when they’re hungry. In a way, I would like to think that we didn’t just create posters; we created support and the comfort of knowing the Food Bank is right there on the main campus just in case anybody needed it. As a matter of fact, a woman who couldn’t afford food for her family of five kids, came to the Food Bank the other day for help after seeing the signs we made outside the Student Union Building. I helped somebody! Even though what I’ve done didn’t bring the human race anywhere near the end of world hunger, I sure left the community a better place than when I found it.

The Food Bank experience helped me become a better person. Before volunteering for the program, I didn’t really value the food I have every day. I didn’t realize there are many people, right in our community, go to bed hungry at night. After helping out at the Food Bank and talking to Susan, I stopped taking food for granted. Now, I only take what I can eat and save the rest for later, instead of taking everything there is 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, Highline Food Bank is collecting old cell phone and chargers for “Soldier to Soldier”, a program that collects and sells old cell phone to raise money for the aesthetic legs and arms that local wounded soldiers from Iraq needed. Who would have known that an old cell phone I was about to throw away could transform a soldier’s life? I do now. It is so satisfying to know that my work truly makes a difference in someone else’s life and in the community, instead of just creating another one of those long, wordy essays that will be thrown away at the end of the quarter.

Volunteering for the Food Bank had been a great opportunity for me to learn more about the challenges that people are facing in our community. It allows me to look beyond my sheltered life and be more thankful for what I have. The experience also taught me that it doesn't require much to improve the community .My work might not change the world, but I sure brought it closer to where it should be . From Food Bank to better community, all we truly need is a little bit of love and the will to make a difference.