Considering it is the holiday season and we have been discussing nonprofits for the last three months I wanted to get involved in something that would allow me to give back to my community. I have been thinking about volunteering at one of the local soup kitchens in my hometown area and had remembered my experience helping at one in the past. While in high school we were required to complete about twenty-five service hours each year. One year I asked a teacher, who happened to be a Benedictine Sister, if she had any suggestions as to where I could volunteer, she suggested that I volunteer with a fellow classmate at the Emmaus Soup Kitchen in Erie, PA. The Emmaus Soup Kitchen is a part of the Emmaus Ministries which happens to be operated by the Benedictine Sisters of Erie. Emmaus Ministries has been operating for over thirty years and the soup kitchen “serves 1,000 hot meals each week and its food pantry distributes 30,000 food bags per year.”
I remember the couple of times that I helped at the soup kitchen. A friend and I went to the dining hall a while after school let out and started getting the dinner ready. We got ready and people started coming in the doors. A lot of emotions ran over me, I was happy and sad all in one. Happy because I was helping and I felt good about myself, and sad because I felt like I should do more to help. One person I will ALWAYS remember was this little old lady, she spoke broken English but you could understand her through her eyes. She would always call my friend and me “princesses” because we were helping her by giving her food. She would also call the sisters “queens” because they helped too. The few nights I was there she came and sat in the same chair and always left with a smile on her face.
I will be contacting my old teacher and hope that there will be a spot for me to help at the dining hall over the Thanksgiving break. I hope all of you are inspired to do something this holiday season to give back too. Some things you all could do or look into in this area -
volunteerfairfax.org
nvfs.org (this is Northern Virginia Family Service and they have toy and food drives from November to December)
