Volunteering 11/4

Volunteering at a soup kitchen is always a humbling experience. I used to volunteer back home with my family and synagogue, serving over 70,000 meals this past year. This simple act of serving guests at the soup kitchen provides an opportunity to treat people with the dignity they deserve and to give thanks for the gifts we have. It’s also a great reminder that no matter how down some of us may get during the semester, there are always people worse off. Plus, volunteering is a great way to relieve the stresses of school and do a good deed at the same time! During my time on Wednesday I didn’t see any major differences between the soup kitchen back home and the soup kitchen here in Meadville other than: the guests in Meadville wore more camouflage attire, and there were less families present than I had anticipated. I remember we discussed in class how families with young children were at greater risk for food insecurity than senior citizens living alone. Similarly, when it comes to power and cultural scripts, single mothers are often disrespected in our society. Often times these women work multiple jobs to support their children, and have little time to prepare a meal themselves or even shop for ingredients. At the soup kitchen, the children were always seen with an older woman I presumed to be their mother. Again, as we talked about in class, Fitchen mentions that food insecurity is not just a biological issue but also a psychological one. Not being able to provide food for your family on your own has serious mental health consequences like depression. While everyone was respectful and said thank you after we served them their food, it was clear that the majority of our guests were not the happiest campers.