Today we collected 62.71 lbs. of food. Servo donated meatballs, a pasta dish, pancakes, and crab cakes! Sheetz donated bananas, yogurt parfaits, cookies, and sandwiches. We also had a donation of Root Beer Syrup... I'm not sure what they'll do with that...

As a little aside: the fridge was already quite full before we added what we collected! There was a ton! of bread in the fridge, fresh peppers, salad, and other little collections of food here and there. It's exciting to see such a full fridge!

Overall, collecting was pretty much the same today as most Wednesdays... I was glad not to have to be out in the rain! It was cold and wet this morning, and became beautiful later in the day! This makes for a much nicer walk over to the kitchen!

Until next Wednesday....

Anna Hallman

October 26, 2009

Reading Days Reflection

Our experience in Washington is both memorable and influential in how I think about my role with Campus Kitchens’ and in the greater community. Our first night back, as I got into bed, I thought about how cold it was outside. I considered the number of people huddled under layers of tattered clothing, sleeping on heat vents and side steps of government buildings. I remembered the faces of people we had met at D.C. Central Kitchen, N. Street, the National Coalition Against Homelessness Panel, and men and women we provided clothes for through D.C. Outfitters. Since our return, I have been more acutely aware of the weather, and how that is affecting the homeless population. I have thought about what I can do as a college student, here and now, to better the lives of poverty stricken individuals, and what I may be able to do in the future.

Not only did being in a new city offer new opportunity, (as I had never before been to Washington,) but the people we met and the time we spent most specifically at D.C.C.K. really opened my eyes to the hardships of homelessness, the opportunity that is available, and the continued instability that results from past experience as a homeless individual. Some of the stories I heard were unbelievable. Stories from people I never would have guessed to be previously homeless facing unbelievable challenges. People who not only conquered homelessness, but conquered it with strength and now have great spirit. It’s amazing to me what people can endure and still find it in themselves to seek happiness in another day and move forward.

A reoccurring message that became something of a theme during our time in D.C. was that the homeless want merely to be treated as humans. However simplistic this may seem, it isn’t something that we had necessarily discussed in class. So much of the battle that the homeless population seems to have to fight is derived from the sense that they are not as human, or not as acceptable within society, due to their status. Since our return to campus, I have found myself reflecting on this point often. I hate to think of the number of homeless people around our country and around our world whose primary struggle is fighting a sense that they are not human. Every being born on this earth should feel human. Though one person may be born into a family with greater resources than another, ultimately, the fundamental feeling of being human, and experiencing all the emotions that go along with that, should be equal among us.

Our experience in Washington led me to consider many aspects of homelessness that would have been otherwise unknown. Being in a city where homelessness is so prevalent, and talking about the issue with people who have experienced homelessness or are homeless now was an incredible experience. While reading in class has been enjoyable, and has brought to our attention many factors of extreme poverty and homelessness, it is experience that is truly enlightening. Our trip has made me want to learn more, delve deeper into the subject, and begin to understand what more I can do to change the epidemic of homelessness in America.

We collected almost 50 lbs. of food today. It was a fine collection, and we were by no means lacking for food, as the fridge at the kitchen was very, very full. I would like to have seen more fruit and veggies coming in, however, we had good donations. It is hard to complain when week after week, we have something to contribute to the kitchen, no matter the final quantity of food. There were a lot of cookies donated this week from Sheetz! There were also three Monster drinks donated, which was funny. I'm not quite sure how those will be incorporated into a meal....

After many weeks of picking food up, I am beginning to become more and more curious about what people think about receiving some of the food we collect. I would be interested to know if the people receiving the food have a similar wish to mine, in that they would like to be seeing more fruits and veggies, or if they are perfectly satisfied with the more common donations of sandwiches, cookies, and the various Servo dishes. (???)

            Going down to Washington DC over reading days, I didn’t really know what to expect.  I had reviewed the itinerary but had no idea what we would really be doing at each place, did not know who these people exactly were that we were going to get the opportunity to talk to, and was unsure what each day would entail.  Some parts of the trip, such as DC Outfitters, turned out to be different than what I had imagined but the trip as a whole was a great experience.  I didn’t know until the first day working at the extremely large, organized and clean DC Central Kitchen that it was a nonprofit kitchen that provided meals for all the shelters in the city.  For some reason I thought it was a soup kitchen and we would be serving the meals directly to the homeless.  When I discovered this was not the case, I worried that we were not going to have direct interaction with the homeless – we were just going to learn about them from people we talked to such as Kyle from N Street Village – but this was certainly not the case.  Our trip went far beyond chopping vegetables, snapping beans, grating cheese, and making salads and sandwiches.  We talked to many homeless people through the Faces panel and on the streets during DC Outfitters.  Talking with them and hearing their stories was definitely the most memorable and influential part of the trip for me.  I talked with one homeless woman for about a half hour with Mikaela and Grace during the DC Outfitters trip.  She was just sitting on a park bench at dark with all her belongings, watching and feeding the birds.  We first started talking to her when she asked us why young girls like us were out so late.  She continued to talk about her past and shared her vast knowledge on birds.  I could tell that us talking to her brightened her day.  One of the most valuable lessons I learned from talking to her and those on the Faces panel was that just smiling at and saying hello to the homeless goes a long way.  They are people too and just like anybody else, they don’t appreciate being looked down upon and ignored.  As well as talking with the homeless, working at DC Central Kitchen was my favorite part of the trip.  The coolest part about DCCK was their training program that teaches extremely poor and homeless people how to cook and become licensed chefs.  It is a terrific program and the people who were guiding us at the kitchen had graduated from this training program themselves.  It is programs like this that help reduce homelessness.  This trip was definitely one I will never forget.  In fact, all I learned and experienced during those four days will stay with me throughout the rest of my life and how I think about and deal with the homeless and the issue of homelessness in the future.