McFarland
BIO 241
4 June 2017
Event: Soup Kitchen at Bethesda Lutheran Church
Hours volunteered: 2 hours on May 22, 2017
Event Organizer: Katherine Dedrick. dedrickkatherine@comcast.net
Event Goal:
This event takes place at the church in Mountlake Terrace every Monday. The main purpose is to serve a wholesome meal to the elderly, homeless and needy people in the area and to give them a safe place to interact and enjoy their food.
My Duties:
My duties during this event consisted of portioning out
desserts, setting up tables to serve food from, and serving food to every
person in line with the help of a few other workers.
Reflection:
This experience affected me greatly. I haven’t had prior
experiences in a soup kitchen setting, and this was very eye-opening. I often
see needy people around the Shoreline/ Mountlake Terrace/ Lynnwood area. These
people are homeless and often begging on the side of the street. When I
encounter these people, I often feel powerless to impact their situation and
help them. This service experience really showed me what could be done to make
an impact.
The coordinator of the activity was also
excited to see a younger person volunteering. This showed the significance of
each person in society serving in their community. Human biology is
interdisciplinary in that the system of a community involves many different
kinds of people and different services that depend on each other. For example,
the church that I did the service learning through had the help of young and
old people. Also, a lot of the food for the meal was provided by grocery store donations.
There were many aspects that made the event possible, and it all worked
together to help people with needs.
This taught me that if everyone was willing to do a little bit of
service in the area that they liked the most, the impact would be very large. I
believe many people get caught up in thinking that they cannot make a
significant difference and so they do not try. A community is made up of every
kind of person and each person has strengths and qualities to share.
I briefly
talked to some of the people we served. They were very grateful and repeatedly
thanked me and the other workers. It was moving to realize that the people we
often look down upon and see as dirty and unapproachable need the help and
compassion of the community and we should not just brush them off and see them
as a nuisance.
Questions:
1. How many homeless people are served/impacted by soup kitchens in our area annually?
2. How much food is donated to these facilities versus how much food is thrown away and wasted? How can we minimize wasting resources and use them to maximize helping people?
3. Everyone immediately thinks of Seattle and Downtown when discussing homeless people, however, how many homeless people are in Everett or Shoreline or Mountlake Terrace and Lynnwood?
4. Are soup kitchens run predominately by volunteers? And where do they receive their funds to continue making a difference?
Regarding biology and physiology, how might hunger and food insecurity affect physiology, health and wellness? What is the role of free healthy meals for the individual and public health of our communities? How you use this experience in your future as a health care provider?
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