Food Bank

When I went to the food bank to volunteer with the class, I honestly had no clue what was in store for me. When I hear the word food bank, I think of one giant pantry in a sense that gives food to the needy. When we arrived in D.C., we were met by a van that drove us to the location. This intrigued me because –

  • The food bank is a non-profit organization so no funds were collected to buy the van.
  • Gas is required in order to make these multiple trips to pick up the volunteers!

Prior to even physically volunteering, this brought home the idea of community engagement for me. When we arrived at the food bank and began to pack the boxes in their different categories (mine was canned vegetables :D) I began to think of all the good that we were doing for the community. Somewhere, some family was going to need these non-perishable items during the cold, winter season. In the moment the boxes felt tiresome, but to think of all the good that was coming of this was an overwhelming feeling. After we finished our shift, the woman who had been guiding us through the day had told us we packed thousands of pounds of food, which literally made my mouth drop. In this moment, I realized leadership is silent. Leadership does not have to be making a speech or leading a group of people or vocalizing oneself in any way. Leadership can be in the form of recognizing there is a need and doing what you feel is necessary in order to meet the need. This “Aha” moment in a sense really resonated with me on the way back to campus. If we all just found a need and worked to combat it, we could all make the world a better place!

 

 



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