The Saturday before Thanksgiving we, along with 3 other families, had the opportunity to volunteer at the Phoenix Rescue Mission. We were assigned the job of family chaperones, which meant each of us had to walk two or three families down a clothing line and then to receive a produce bag, a box filled with staples to make a traditional thanksgiving meal and finally a frozen turkey. They estimated that about 600 families showed up.
During our down time (before the families arrived) we also helped put the produce on the bags and arranged them at the station from where they would be picked up. We were very busy but it was also a very humbling experience.
That same day, right after my shift at the Mission ended, I went to pick up a basket of produce that I had ordered from a food co-op I recently joined. While picking up my own produce there was a strange similarity to the operation at the mission: you had to get in line, check in, then pick up your food, then leave... as I was walking back to my car, basket in hand, I thought how instead of being a family chaperone, it could have been me lining up to receive those goods. Instead I was comfortably walking to my car not having to worry when my next meal would come from... but why not me?
During our down time (before the families arrived) we also helped put the produce on the bags and arranged them at the station from where they would be picked up. We were very busy but it was also a very humbling experience.
That same day, right after my shift at the Mission ended, I went to pick up a basket of produce that I had ordered from a food co-op I recently joined. While picking up my own produce there was a strange similarity to the operation at the mission: you had to get in line, check in, then pick up your food, then leave... as I was walking back to my car, basket in hand, I thought how instead of being a family chaperone, it could have been me lining up to receive those goods. Instead I was comfortably walking to my car not having to worry when my next meal would come from... but why not me?
2 comments:
Thanks for sharing your experiences volunteering with Phoenix Rescue Mission and for coming out to serve. It wasn't until I started working here and actually meeting the people the Mission serves that I truly felt for the homeless. It has also struck me that homelessness is not as far away as most people think.
Hi Cristina--
I found your blog from Debra's comment on my blog, and just wondered if your little children went with you to the Rescue Mission. If so, how did it go?
Thanks--
Krista
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