I’ve never been a very social adept individual, but sometimes I have to push myself to try new things so that I can grow and expand my horizons as a person. That’s why the Day of Service on Saturday, September 6th was such an interesting and fun event, even if I had to get up early in the morning to arrive there on time and I wasn’t feeling very well. I was joined by three other girls, all upperclassmen, and we were guided by an inquisitive and friendly supervisor named Thomas. We took a van to a local park – well I slept most of the way because I have the sleep schedule of a bat – and made it earlier than expected, but not before other tents had been set up around the grounds. Unfortunately, the people who were going to help us were nowhere to be found and neither was the tent, so we camped underneath a nearby tree which overlooked a river, our hands under our chins and other blue plastic lunch bags beside us.
We decided to have an early lunch as we waited, and that soon turned into a getting-to-know-you session, with lots of stories to be shared and a few laughs to be had. I learned about places to eat, things to do, and what these girls did for fun, which made me feel happier than I had been. Finally our helpers came and we set up shop, being told that we had one job; to spread awareness of the Community Food Bank, which was the organization that we were volunteering for that day. She gave us flyers, pamphlets, fact sheets, and even a small bucket to collect donations that people may have for us. I was on the first right, feet slightly crossed, and I did what the Penguins of Madagascar had always told me to do; I smiled and waved. Several people passed by us, and I added in a friendly “hi” to my act, and that certainly got people to notice us and our stand, even if they didn’t stop by and take a look. However, when people did stop by, I gave them the general spiel that the supervisor had given to us, and my group members filled in the rest of the details.
After a while of explaining, I decided that I would write everything on one piece of paper to make it easier to explain, adding a dog and a happy smiley face doodle to it because I couldn’t help myself; I love to doodle. For the rest of the afternoon, I smiled, said hi, and held up the sign to get people attention. Overall, the people were really nice, with most already having prior knowledge of the food bank and participating in some way or another. A few people were snarky, though, joking that “you’re the food bank, so where is the food that you are giving to us?” We collected over $25 dollars in donations and even handed out flyers for Restaurant Week in November, which allowed the profits on the first day to be donated to the Community Food Bank.
Sadly, our day ended before we were able to convince everyone to donate, and we were replaced by a pair of children and their mother, which I think got even more attention than us. We were driven back – I slept again – and once we finally got back to Stockton around 2:30 PM, we said our goodbyes to each other, got our picture taken, and went our separate ways for the rest of the day. Meeting new people that day felt really great, and it felt greater to help people that are struggling to get a decent meal feed themselves through this food bank. It makes me think about how fortunate I am to have food readily available for me, either at home or school, and how my life would change if that were taken away from me.