Last Saturday, on the 23rd of February, I and a determined team of youth leaders set out to aid a local food bank with our volunteer services. Unknown to us, this experience would be like none that we had ever encountered prior to this occasion. Upon our late arrival to the site, we stepped into what seemed to be a run-down clearing on the wrong side of town. Enclosed by a fence, clumps of weed spotted the dry-dirt ground along with the occasional stray piece of trash. Completely encircled by the waiting sea of local inhabitants, the urgency of our volunteering services came through loud and clear. Being already half an hour tardy, we hurriedly dived into the fray of bustling volunteers, signing in. With our names on the roster and labels taped to our shirts, we set off in anticipation of the day to come. What seemed like something that might turn into a volunteering nightmare, soon revealed itself to be a blessing.

Joining the rest of the volunteers, unpacking great masses of food from a truck, we soon found there was no shortage of work to be found. Volunteers were scurrying all over the empty lot, apparent of the amount of work needed to be completed in the narrowing time that we had. The system that the food bank followed, although seeming very hectic, was carefully structured to meet the needs of the waiting people as efficiently as possible. The step-by-step food-distributing process included: handing out food cards to determine the rations of food that would be given to each person, giving them a box to carry their food, and handing them food from the extensive platform groceries. At exactly nine o’clock, the patient stream of waiting people steadily filtered through the clearing of over-hanging canopies, toward the provisions. The thrill of giving showed through in our attitudes as we joyfully handed out heaps of food to the oncoming crowd. Utter joy pulsed through our veins at the thought of charitable giving. Necessities such as milk, vegetables, fruits, meat, and oral hygiene kits were just some of the things handed out; along with a great abundance of things like chocolate desserts, whole frozen turkeys, and loaves upon loaves of fresh bread. As the multitude of people steadily lessened, so did the seemingly-endless supply of food.