Volunteering.

So today I went to volunteer at church. Our church runs a food bank and we had a big Thanksgiving distribution, so it was my job to help check people in -- they would come to a greeter first, then go to me. I'd ask for photo ID (or a utility bill) and find their name on the list, then find a runner to go and get their prepared box. I got there about an hour before we started handing out food and helped with some set-up and had soup and salad with the rest of the volunteers.

It was crazy at first. People were very antsy. Some of them thought they had made reservations but hadn't, so they were upset that they had to come back later in the day to see if there were extra boxes left (there were). A lot of people didn't speak English very well so I tried to be very patient and spoke more slowly. What struck me was that a lot of these people looked like me -- what I mean by that is that if I saw them somewhere out in the world, I wouldn't picture them as people who visit a food bank. It just helped me remember what hungry people actually look like -- they look like me.

There were two people that really stuck with me. The first was a woman who didn't speak much English -- she did most of her speaking through a Russian interpreter. But I still said hello and asked how she was and the usual stuff, and after I handed her ID back to her, she grabbed my hands and kept saying, "Thank you, thank you, God bless you, God bless America, thank you." I could see in her eyes how grateful she was and her image is still with me.

The second person that stuck with me was a man, probably close to my age, who came about 30 minutes after we had finished distributing. He said he had made a reservation, but I didn't have it listed (plus everyone was cleaning up at this point). He continued to insist and, as I was supposed to do in that situation and as I had done many times before, I called in the person running the event and she got his info down and went to put a box together. As he sat and waited, he kept asking me odd questions, like, "Do you have any floss?" (no, I didn't) or "Do you like lemons?" (I guess I do) and then a lot of random statements I couldn't really understand. Then he told me his goal was to get food to give to other homeless people like him. I said that was very kind of him. So about five minutes passed and then another volunteer walked by and asked if this guy had a reservation -- no, I responded, but someone is putting together something, so we're all set. Then he sort of flipped out and kept going on and on that he had made a reservation, and who was I to say that he wasn't and who did I think I was? I just said that I was sorry things weren't prepared but that it would be ready any minute. The other volunteer (Katie's dad) told him to just calm down because everything was taken care of. Then this guy snapped back, "Well, I think she's being awfully rude and saying I don't have a reservation because that's a lie" or something to that effect and then David got his serious voice and said that I was being quite kind and gracious. So he sat quietly a few more minutes. When he got the food, he sorted through it and made a pile of what he didn't want (it was odd to hear someone sort through food and say, "Good... crap... crap... good...) and then he left a pile on the floor. I guess he came back a few minutes later and said he didn't want to be jerked around and he wanted to trade for good food -- the reply was, if you would not like this food, then we can give it to someone else. I guess he has come in before and is generally high and disgruntled.

Two things struck me about this interaction -- well, besides being upset, of course -- first, that there are people in this world, in this country, and in this city that live this sort of lifestyle. It is amazing to me. Second, I realized that there will always be people who are not grateful and as sad as that makes me, it is the truth. In honesty, I think the food they hand out is pretty darn good -- a whole box of canned and boxed goods, meat (generally chicken or turkey), a big bag of produce, and even some eggs and dairy products. Most people were so thankful and it made me think that most people in their right minds would be thrilled.

When there was a spare moment, I was talking with one of the other volunteers and I mentioned what a moving experience this had been so far -- and how I, as well as almost everyone I know, takes something simple like food for granted. I also thought about something Pastor Hoffman said before we started. He said that we see Jesus in many places. We would see Jesus today, he continued, in the faces of the people we serve. It's true -- there is a huge call in the Bible to help those who are not as fortunate as we and it was heartening to see so much kindness and goodness today. For the things that I complain about or deal with on a daily basis -- these things are nothing.

All in all it was a very good experience and I'm excited to help for Christmas -- I hope I can!

XOXO
Sarah