Ford Hanour's Acute Amazing Awesome Service Learning Blog Day 4

Hello All,

Today's work made me realize that Share Our Selves is not simply about giving people free food. They provide services to people, services people cannot receive anywhere else. My good friend, Conner, and I worked in the office making copies of flyers for one of the head office workers. Next, we moved onto cutting, folding, stapling, and rubber banding small pieces of paper used for a raffle to decide who will get to see an office representative. Today, was nice because it was a change of pace from working in the kitchen. 

P.S. See you all bright and early tomorrow morning!

-Ford Hanour 

Ford Hanour's Amazingly Awesome Service Learning Blog Day 3

Today, I began by putting all my effort into packing a handful of green beans into plastic bags. This reminded of my last visit in which I contributed by packing fish sticks into small plastic bags. For the second half of my visit at Share Our Selves, I harnessed my energy into packing bags of food for those in need. This made me feel all good inside because I was able to see my work directly help those who are in need. Overall, I felt very rewarded because I knew that my work was not a waste of time.

Conner Ascher Service Learning: Day 4

On our previous visit to share ourselves I was packaging and distributing food in the front room, which I liked very much. But today I worked in the office with Ford. This was my first time working in the office, and it was very different from the working in the front room. We made copies, and we also cut out paper and stapled the edges for a lottery drawing. It seemed like busy work, but I realized that the job was important because share ourselves could not possibly work with everyone, on each day. And that job being done was a lot more important than we thought. After we finished we went and helped Maddie, Robbe, Nickie, and Leo package apples and cucumbers. It was a long day but, we were able to accomplish a lot more than we thought we could have.

Conner Ascher Service Learning Day:3

Today I packed food in bags and distributed them to the people in need. This was my first time working in the ditribution area, and along with knowing that I made a difference firsthand to these people. I also was able to meet some other volunteers who helped me work in the ditribution area. Their experience and knowledge helped me not only feel that I was doing my job correctly, but that what I was doing had more meaning to the community around S.O.S. than just giving out food.

Claudette Vaught - Day 4 Reflection

On our previous service learning day first, we packaged pastries and donuts. This activity wasn't very exciting however I enjoyed bonding with my classmates. Next we bagged oranges and cucumbers and like the previous job we were assigned, I didn't find this very engaging but I felt like we had a real bonding experience with my classmates. Lastly, Allison and I worked with other volunteers on filling the requests of those in need this was my favorite part, as it was on our service learning day 3. I really like making a connectuion with the people who are reciving the food we package and seeing our good work be put to use. I'm very excited to have our next service learning day and participate in more bonding with my classmates and connecting with those in need.

Allison Blanning Reflection 4

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.

Robbe Simon Reflection Day 4

Today I had little interaction with the clients we were serving, but it was still a day full of hard work. Our day today began by packing bread and pastries into bags of four, varying the different breads that we put into each bag. We then moved to packing rice, and even cucumbers. At one point we were packing cucumbers and oranges into bags together, which seemed like a pretty odd combination. Some of the other students helped staple and cut stationary while we were packing foods. Although the work seemed tedious at times, I never felt upset or bored because I knew I somebody had to do this work. I was helping clients just as much as someone who was actually getting to pack groceries and meet them face-to-face. We took a short break from the food packing and proceeded to sort clothing that had been donated into groupings by age and gender. The clothes varied from poorly maintained to brand-new and seemingly clean. I enjoyed this particular task because it showed just how much people were donating to Share Ourselves. The overwhelming number of bags made our work more difficult, but it pleased me just the same. For the remainder of our day, we went back to packing cucumbers and oranges. When we finally boarded the bus to go back to Sage, my back was aching and my hands were sore. However, the day's work had made me feel refreshed because I experienced something new today, regardless of its difficulty. I hope next time I will be able to meet the clients face to face again because I truely relish those interactions.