First Service Experiences

It has been two weeks since I last posted and in that time I have started my service project that I will continue until the end of the semester. As I said in my previous post, I am volunteering at St. Patrick’s Church every Wednesday from 3:45 until 6:15. I am performing my service in the basement of the church where a community dinner is held. This dinner is free to the community and any one is allowed to come and eat the food that is prepared by various volunteers. Different members and organizations take the responsibility of preparing and serving food every week. I think this will be a strong advantage for me during my service experience as it will allow me to work with many different people. When I first arrive at the kitchen, I have helped prepare food during my first two service days. This is followed by helping to set up the food and other items in preparation for serving which begins at 5:00. The first week I served ice cream and the second week I distributed water to the people. When the serving is completed, I help to clean up the dining area and kitchen while people eat their food and depart.

So far, this experience has been somewhat of an eye opening experience for me. I immediately noticed a schedule on the door to the kitchen with the locations of free dinners that are offered somewhere in Dubuque every day of the week. I was not aware that a dinner was needed by the people of the community every day. I knew that there were people that lived in Dubuque that were poor, but I did not know that there were people in need of a free meal everyday in order to survive. I saw many of the same faces at both meals that I provided service, but also some new faces at the dinner this week. While talking to some of the other volunteers, I learned that the number of people that attend the dinners increase as the month progresses. Welfare checks and food stamps are distributed at the beginning of the month, so people must rely on free donations at the end of the month. The first dinner was the first Wednesday of the month and I saw an increase of about 10-20 people at the second dinner. I expect that the number will continue to increase for the next three weeks.

One of the things that I have noticed so far at the dinners is the wide range of people that come to get a warm meal. People often have a stereotypical view on what people in need look like. From my personal experience, I often saw old men as those people who had to really on soup kitchens to eat. My view changed extremely rapidly after just a few minutes. I have seen people of all ages and races at the dinners and nearly equal numbers of men and women. I have noticed that roughly 20 percent of the people are children under the age of 15 which was very surprising for me. I have even seen people that are my own age is which makes me very thankful for the life that I have lived so far and that I am fortunate enough to not be in that type of situation. The majority of the people are very courteous and thankful for the volunteers that serve them. Some arrive over an hour before the meal and visit with one another before they can eat. I look forward to the next two months of service and hope to continue to learn about the volunteers and the people of the community.