Have you ever volunteered to serve meals to the homeless or working poor?
If you haven’t, read on. If you have, read on as well…you might discover something new. I did.
First, not everyone that goes to a soup kitchen is homeless. There are hundreds of New Yorkers who go to work every day, send their kids off to school every day and yet have no food to serve in their homes. They have to choose between putting food on the table and keeping a roof over their heads. During such situations they are left with no choice but to put their pride on the side and visit a soup kitchen.
For the purpose of this story, I will name the head of household Juanita Rodriguez.
Juanita passes you by on an everyday basis well dressed and groomed with her two kids beside her. You would never imagine Juanita’s first stop in the morning would be a soup kitchen to ensure her family has the first meal of the day. Juanita has to ensure she arrives early enough to be one of the first to arrive. She attempts to avoid:
A) being turned away from having a meal. Soup kitchens are on a first come first serve basis
B) being late for work
C) not having lunch for herself
There have been scenarios in which one of the kids are sick or something unpredictable takes place which causes her to arrive late to the soup kitchen. When Juanita knows the lines are too long and that she will most likely not make the cut, she runs over to another location. The next place is further away from her kid’s school and her job but she can’t send them off without breakfast.
Fortunately, children get lunch in school so that’s one meal she doesn’t have to worry about for them. In some cases, Juanita is permitted to take extra food from the soup kitchen for lunch. However, in some scenarios, she’s left with nothing for the day so she portions her breakfast so that she may tease her stomach in the afternoon.
When Juanita passes you by after completing a hard day of work, she heads straight to pick up her children at the after school center. Juanita’s first stop is the soup kitchen. Once again, she wants to make sure she is one of the first to arrive so that she may focus on her children’s homework later that evening instead of running from shelter to shelter trying to get a meal. Once Juanita manages to get a meal and finishes feeding her family she heads straight home to help her kids do their homework, prepare them for bed and the next day. Every night Juanita goes to sleep thankful for what she’s been given, and yet always wondering if she’ll ever be able to provide a normal life for her children.
My question to you is….What does a normal life consist of?
Juanita is able to pursue her life, maintain hope and provide her children with a future thanks to all the organizations and New Yorker’s that dare to be selfless, giving and inspirational. Organizations such as:
1) New York Cares ~ www.NewYorkCares.org ~ NY Cares works with soup kitchens to provide some funding and helping hands to serve hot meals to the homeless and working poor.
2) Bread and Life ~ www.BreadandLife.org ~ is an incredible all in one organization. They provide everything under one roof helping the homeless and working poor individuals and families not only get a hot meal but also get services to try to reinstate them into the working force. Find out more on my previous post.
Any volunteer that has served such meals knows of the horrific food provided. It’s not the organizations fault. Each location does the best they can with whatever ingredients are available in the pantries. However, whatever is in the pantry isn’t always great or decent. In some scenarios, pets have better meals served on a dish. Yet, you never see a single rebuttal/complaint from the guests.
During New Year’s last year I served meals to the homeless. The menu consisted of meatballs and beans along with frank and beans. Although, I found this unappetizing they didn’t. I guess I imagined a holiday serving to have a little extra special menu. The New York Cares volunteers were truly amazing that day. They ran over to a store and bought several packages of candy canes just to add a little holiday spirit.
After leaving the soup kitchen that day, I walked towards my job in total awe….still unable to grasp the fact of feeding over 150 homeless individuals in midtown, only 3 blocks away from where I work. I wondered where they came from. I never see them in the streets or trains. I recall having lunch with one of my colleagues and telling him about my experience. I told him then that I wasn’t sure what I was going to do to make this change, but there had to be something.
I can’t change the staggering number of homeless and working poor. However, I will do my best to at least provide a few, as many as I possibly can, with a decent holiday meal and experience.
Therefore, I ask YOU to HELP ME FEED NYC.
Feeding NYC is an enormous effort fundamentally dependent on various partnerships.
If you’re interested in volunteering or sponsoring please contact us at RoxiesDare2B@aol.com.
I believe that each of us individually can have a positive impact on the community. Together, the possibilities are limitless. Together we could create a special holiday event in which families, for one brief moment, could escape their daily challenges.
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Selfless * Caring * Inspirational
Abrazotes,
Roxie
