I started today's service learning with duties that I have done during the past several visits; I helped unpack and repack donated food into new containers that would eventually be handed out directly to those who applied for food and other supplies. After a few minutes of stumbling, my fellow classmates and I eventually created an efficient system that relied on teamwork to get the job done: one person would rip bags off the roll for us to us, on person would package the food into these bags, and then someone would place the packaged food into a box that would be moved into the other room for distribution. After a few hours of this, Claudette and I were moved into the room that packaged food for specific families that were in need of food and supplies. Those in need fill out slips of paper with information regarding the number of people they need food for and their living situation. We filled the orders according to these papers and then called out the person's number on the PA system so they could pick up their food. It is one thing to be packaging food for people in the back room and have no interaction with them; it is quite another to actually interact with the people that you have helped. Reactions to the food give outs are mixed: some are shy and embarrassed to have to ask for food from strangers, some are angry with the handouts we give them and want different food, but most are extremely grateful and thank us profusely. After filling orders from the request forms, I realized that this was my favorite job to be doing at SOS because you get to interact directly with the people you are helping and allows you to see tangible proof that your hard work is in fact helping someone.
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