Food for the Hungry, Food for Thought

On Friday, March 9, four of us volunteered at the Worcester County Food Bank (WCFB) in Shrewsbury.  WCFB is part of the nationwide charity Feeding America; it acts as the “middle man” between markets who give away their leftover food products and soup kitchens, food pantries, and homeless shelters.  When we first arrived at the food bank, the volunteer coordinator Luke Moore greeted us with enthusiasm.  It was surprising to find out that Luke himself was a Clarkie; he told us that since his education does not define a certain career, non-profit would be a great place to start – I felt this very much reflected the Clarkie spirit of wanting to give back to the community and helping others, a mentality which very much encouraged me to come to Clark 3 years ago.  This mentality has been at the forefront of my focus more than ever over the course of this week, because I have been privileged to be surrounded by people who naturally love to give back and find great joy in it.

Our task at the WCFB was to sort food products: we had to remove items that were either past their expiration date or not in good condition.  I really had fun doing this with my ASB group. At the same time, we realized just how much food gets wasted worldwide.  A great amount of the food we inspected had to get thrown away, and this caused me to see firsthand the importance of the work that food banks do.  I actually imagined if food banks did not sort the food out, people at the pantries would receive the food in unsanitary conditions and they would feel terrible– this shows how essential food banks are for providing the hungry with quality products and, in turn, happiness. 

At the end of the day, Luke gave us a tour of the food bank – it was so much larger than it looked from the outside.  There are 2 super-sized rooms for food storage as well as large freezers for meat and vegetables.  In addition, there is a huge sign thanking volunteers for the work they do – seeing this truly made me feel special about what we were doing and motivated me to want to come back soon.  Also, volunteers are asked to sign in and sign out so they can be kept in contact with.  This desire to keep an ongoing relationship thriving between volunteers and organizations is something we really want to emerge as a result of this alternative spring break, and it is great to work with people we share the same values with. 

In the end, Luke help put into perspective the impact our work has in the long run by explaining how WCFB is part of the larger process of feeding the hungry. The end results of what we did were, of course, not evident when we were working; but by getting a sense of our contribution to the larger scale, it made our work so much more rewarding.


-Mitch-