I, like many people of the world, enjoy food, and we need food to nourish our bodies so that they can perform the daily tasks we need to accomplish each day. Unfortunately, sometimes I don’t eat like I should, and I load up on the junk food that is available to me or skip meals entirely. Today’s situation was composed of both evils, first skipping breakfast in favor of sleeping after math class and only eating some trail mix and a pack of gummies for lunch. Needless to say, I was hungry when I got into the N-Wing Cafeteria, ready to chow down on my usual salad bar salad and piles of blanched vegetables. However, once the woman at the cash register swiped my ID and gave me my receipt, I headed for the stations and found that they were completely empty, not a speck of food in sight.

I caught a whiff of something that smelled delicious and promptly turned my head to find that the dining area had been overtaken by Thanksgiving food stations, the selection of food tantalizing to say the least. I had gotten there at the tail end of dinner time, around 7:00, so most of the food had been eaten already, but there was still plenty to take. I was not expecting giant turkey legs, cranberry sauce, large roasted potatoes and other holiday goodies to be lining the tables, but I didn’t complain or question why the cafeteria was doing this. I took a plate and filled it with the food mentioned above, grabbing a cup of ginger ale to go with it, since that soda has always helped me to relieve stomach aches from eating too fast. To top off a great dinner time, the TV that sits above the bread and waffle station was tuned to Project Runway, and since I haven’t seen that show in forever, I decided to sit down at the counter and watch. There was another boy next to me that was eating, not really watching the show but listening in occasionally. During the commercials, I tried to make small talk about how Nutella changed their slogan from “a hint of cocoa” to flat out saying that it had cocoa in it, and that escalated  into us talking about Nutella and our heritages and pets and turkey and the show in front of us. Even though we didn’t talk long, it was really nice to meet a friendly person who was willing to talk about things with me and I was kind of sad to see him go.

That dinner was the best that I have had in a while; it felt like I was at my nana’s house instead of on campus. The only thing that was slightly off was that the giant turkey leg that I had contained all of these thin, flat, long, pointy bones that I had to pick out of my mouth. It felt like I was eating a porcupine, but it was an extremely delicious porcupine. Now I just have to wait until next Thursday when I can celebrate with my parents, cousins, relatives, and grandparents and hope that the food there matches or surpasses the food that was served on campus.

In 9^th grade, I planned to do something in design for my career, so taking a clothes-making class seemed like a good place to start my journey. In that class, I learned how to sew, pin patterns, and steady my hand so that I wouldn’t botch the garments. These skills have helped me over the years to fix rips in clothes and make small outfits for my dolls, but it also helped me in another aspect; making toys as gifts and for fun. I was able to use my small amount of toy making skills to help out at the service event last Saturday held by Stockton Honors. There were many different stations, along corresponding to several local charities in need of comfort and care, but I chose the station where they were sewing and stuffing teddy bears for the Ronald McDonald house. Even though I came to the event later than I was supposed to, they still had a seat for me, so I quickly took it and settled down with my pair of scissors and an unfinished teddy bear.

Now, I wasn’t the most skilled at this craft, as I hadn’t practiced in years, but I did a pretty good job stuffing the bear and sewing up the arm so that it was tight and wouldn’t come undone. Needles are very hard to thread and thread is hard to knot, but I managed to do both over and over so that I could make a full bear instead of just finish up one. I like my bears stuffed so that they are very huggable, so I may have over stuffed them a little, but I was still able to close the unfinished bear and move onto the purple, paisley printed fabric in front of me. The bear designs were simple but cute, and I was actually able to cut out the patterns effectively. This legitimately surprised me because I usually cut an edge off or make them ragged. After staring at the two sides for a little bit, I flipped them over, pinned them together again, and rethreaded the needle with the same blue thread that I used for the unfinished bear.

My stitches were actually decent, holding in the abundance of stuffing I pushed inside the bear’s body, and once the last stitch was put it, I took a satisfied look at my toy. I felt very good about what I had done, both for myself and the children. I can say from personal experience that in times of sadness and distress, when no one is near to comfort you, a stuffed animal is a great thing to have; their soft bodies give that feeling of warmth and care that someone might need. Maybe that’s why I have two in my room, lying on my bed, waiting for me to hug them. Therefore, I was happy to help with this event and give those in unfortunate situations a little hope and love, as well as a boost in their spirits in that cold and lonely hospital room.

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 6^th 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.