Final Reflection

The most impactful event of the semester was attending soup kitchen and reflecting on it’s role in society. I volunteered at the Meadville Soup Kitchen a couple of times during my sophomore year. During this time I would usually volunteer during the end when everyone was cleaning up. At this time I thought that the soup kitchen was doing really great work within Meadville community. The volunteer atmosphere was welcoming and extremely friendly. I had little interaction with the customers attending the soup kitchen. Also at this time I did not reflect about my time and the soup kitchen’s role in society. After my sophomore year I did not return to the soup kitchen because of time constraints. Also during this time off I read the book The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movement, this book taught me a lot about various aspects of food justice. A big part I took away from this book is that soup kitchens and food banks are perpetuating hunger in our society. The author stated that they are covering up for the larger more societal issues that perpetuate hunger. He argued for more political and societal change. From this standpoint it was really interesting to return to the soup kitchen knowing this information. After my experience at the soup kitchen I was thinking what could be done in Meadville to advocate for hunger. I was thinking about the resources that I knew of that could enact more change for the hunger within Meadville. I was not able to come up with any concrete ideas, but I think it’s something that should be looked into. It would be interesting if community members were able to create a system that would advocate for food justice.