Iona Meal Services



It's been a while since I last posted in my blog but I have indeed kept up with my goal of trying out new places to serve within the Washington, DC area. I have been on a self proposed hiatus from my service activities over the last two months. It was getting hard to manage four activities a month in addition to just trying to live. The months of May and June have just been really chill for me for the most part. The winter months and early spring were quite busy as far as service related activities. I even got some new people to join my cause, which was awesome. In July I plan to visit DC Central Kitchen and the Ronald McDonald house.

On a cold blustery day in February, my niece Tyti, friend Miatta and her sister hopped in my car and drove to Iona Services in the upper northwest area of DC. Iona, established in 1975, provides much needed services that impact the elderly community in this area. Iona's mission is to support people as they experience the challenges and opportunities of aging. They educate, advocate, and provide community-based programs and services to help people age well and live well. The organization envisions a community that celebrates, values, respects and protects the contributions and possibilities of every individual, including older adults. Iona handles an increasing number of requests for guidance on medical care, public services and other social assistance. The program also provides home delivered meals to older adults in the District of Columbia who have difficulty shopping for or preparing meals. We were at Iona that day to do just that, deliver prepared meals to elderly individuals across the DC area.

We arrived at Iona and spoke to the point of contact for the program, who gave us more information about how the day would go. We were given a list of eight individuals to deliver food to, which might seem like allot but it was not because all the deliveries were made in the same area. The longer list of deliveries was a result of no other volunteers showing up for that day from DC cares. Not too long after we received the list, the food truck arrived and we began to bag up the meals. Each individual received both a hot and cold meal for the day in addition a piece of fresh fruit and something to drink like milk or ensure. Once we secured everything in the car, we set off to deliver the meals and everything went without a hitch! The clientele we delivered too were all very grateful for the food. They mentioned how they thought it was sooo lovely that we were taking time out of our day to do this for them. We delivered to one individual who was deaf and another who was blind, which made me feel great but sad at the same time because they lived alone.

*On a final note, I want to mention that Miatta actually was the pilot of our delivery day. Like I said before, my sense of direction is terrible but improving : ) At least I no longer feel that sense of panic when I drive around DC due to all that I am involved in. My next post I want to focus on the biggest event that I have been involved in SERVATHON.

Washington Home Happy Hour



   I finally made it out to the Washington Home Happy Hour in northwest Washington, DC with the help and life saving GPS guided direction of one of my friends : ).  Just in case you ever wondered, I usually research each place that I choose to volunteer at and include that information in each posting within my blog.  I think it is important to give people a little info on the why behind the what so to speak just in case somebody wants to step out there and serve. The Washington Home and Community Hospices' serves the DC area's most vulnerable citizens:  the elderly, chronically, and terminally ill. It helps individuals recuperate from illnesses and return to their homes, provides long-term care for individuals whose age and illness limit their independence and provides comfort to individuals in their final stages of living through hospice care. After getting a better idea of the target group that I would be serving, I was curious to know exactly what the happy hour entailed considering that senior citizens were involved, lol..... When I think of a "happy hour", I picture overworked men and women winding down from their 9 to 5 jobs at local watering wholes across the city. On a totally related and also not related note in previous posts, I blogged about a lack of volunteers showing up to different DC Cares lead activities an dbieng put on blast for snot showing up to one of them.  The funny thing was that 99% of the volunteers showed up this time but the actual volunteer leader never did! I wonder is someone is gonna send that leader a snippy email (ha)!
     It turns out that the happy hour was really a time for the residents to have snacks, something to drink (aka- water), chat up the other residents and take part in a social activity. The activity of choice this time was bowling. We set up the bowling pins and gathered the surprisingly light and flexible balls inside of the activity room.  We had a bowling ramp that each resident used to roll the ball down on and hit the pins. The hardest part of the whole activity was gathering the residents to actually participate in the activity.  We went to each floor asked each resident if they wanted to come bowl with the group.  Most residents were so intent on watching the Whitney Houston funeral that they declined to join the activity. We had to promise turn the funeral on downstairs to get them to come downstairs.  One guy, who I have dubbed the King (see pic below), wanted to know what kind of snacks they were serving because if they were not up to his standards (lol) he was not gonna come downstairs with the group.  Overall the experience was great and I plan on going back. This might become one of my regular spots.

*On a final note, I am very proud of myself because I went out of my way to be extra nice and chat up all of the volunteers.  I did that partly to get out of my naturally "introverted" comfort zone and to make my niece feel more at home in the setting because she seemed to look like she felt out of place. See the cool pics below : )

Occupy Common Sense and Franklin Park



One Sunday not too long ago, I made a decision to get more involved in my church and put myself out there in a way that I have not been in a long time.   As a kid and in my youth (not that I am old now) I was heavily involved in several ministries at the church I attended but for the past couple of years I have basically been a back seat driver. Fast forward to 2012 and I have joined two ministries, one of which is more or less along the lines of a greeter, the other was the missions and outreach team.  Yesterday was my first outing with the group, which I really enjoyed because it gave me a chance to experience something new.  I am used to doing outreach and service on my own but to not with such a huge group of people.  The purpose of the outreach was to pass out toiletries, blankets, hats, gloves and bags to those in need in the city. I was not quite sure what to expect from the whole experience, so I bought a couple of my friends along with me.

We took the metro to McPherson Square, arrived at the site of the outreach and waited with the group of Zion folks who were standing around waiting for further instructions.  When we got to the park to set up, we noticed that we were at the site of Occupy DC. Interestingly enough neither one of my friends were quite sure what the whole phenomenon was all about, so I gave them my interpretation of the protest.  The groups that are occupying different cities across the U.S.A are protesting against various injustices that are being committed against the American people.  In particular, the 99% of the American public that can't defend itself from these crimes that affect their lives (i.e- the poor, the dwindling middle class, minorities etc).  One main bone of contention with the protesters in my view is that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at the hands of greedy politicians and corporate America, who are in bed together and seemingly working hand in hand to ensure that we become a nation of "haves and have-nots".  In regards to the outreach my friends and I had a million questions. Who are these protesters? Did they have jobs or homes? Well to tell you the truth the group was a mixed bag of people that included the needy, homeless and actual protesters who left their normal lives to occupy D.C and apparently congress as well. 

We begin to get the bags and toiletries from the church van and place them on the tables and as the occupants lined up, we passed out the bags.  Even though I was more than happy to help the protesters of occupy D.C, my friends and I kept thinking about the various homeless men and women that we passed on the way to the park filled with protester's. Eventually we ended up passing out bags and toiletries to a large congregation of homeless men and women at Franklin Park about a block away from our original location. When we got to Franklin Park the group swarmed us as they reached out for the goods we had.  I kind of felt like that is where we should have been in the first place. When we ran out of all the goods we had an interesting thing happened, we got rebuked by one of the homeless women in a wheelchair. When everyone was packing up and getting ready to go she asked "Is that it? "Aren't you going to pray for us or preach to us?" I felt super convicted after that because we all just stood there and had nothing to stay to that lady. As a matter of fact most people bounced on that note.  I think at that point I really understood the importance of ministering the gospel and that more people are hungry for the word of God then we realize. I think I get the true importance of reaching souls for Christ first or at least planting a seed and then meeting the needs of the people. 

*On a final note the highlight of my day was mistaking one of my fellow Zion helpers for a homeless person, lol.... The guy walked up to our table with three bags already in his possession  and asked if he could have another bag. When a member of our team asked asked if we could give out more than one bag, the guy looked at us in utter disgust as he mentioned the fact that he was a member of our church, smh.... He then said "Would a homeless person have diamond earrings in his ears?" Absolutely priceless : ) Check out the pics below.

Christ House Lunch and Being Put on Blast!



So yesterday, (meaning last Sunday),  I finally made it to the Christ House to serve lunch but before I get into the whole experience, I have some things to vent about . During my time at Christ House, I had a really good conversation with a fellow DC Cares volunteer, Deana. Deana was a retired nurse who moved to the area from Arizona.  She started off by thanking me for being a person of my word and actually showing up to volunteer. DC Cares is a good way to get started serving as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts because it gives you access to such a huge calendar of opportunities. She talked about how she started serving and the fact that she was a volunteer leader.  Greater DC Cares mobilizes more than 43,000 volunteers to serve more than 860 nonprofits and schools each year, providing thousands of hours of critical services and skills to those in need to the Washington DC area. The organization relies on it's volunteer leaders to manage the projects and volunteers who show up to serve.

Volunteer leaders communicate with the staff of the project sites and manage the volunteers who show up at the site.  With all that being said, Deana mentioned that DC Cares has a bad reputation as of late because so many people sign up to serve but don't actually show up.  She also mentioned that a fellow volunteer leader she knows sends out very "stern" emails to those individuals who sign up to serve but don't actually show up.  So right there I felt convicted because I have been one of those volunteers, lol.... The one who on a couple of occasions singed up for a project but did not bother to remove myself from the project.  Most recently I was that "lazy volunteer" last Saturday : (  The snow and the ice deterred me from trucking out early in the morning, so I just decided to stay home. Well low and behold, Sunday night when I checked my email, I found that I was the recipient of  one of those stern emails that stated, " I hope all is well.  I noticed that you did not show up yesterday and would appreciate if you would remove yourself from the project so that others can sign up it you can't make it."  Even though I understand the frustration that she feels as a result of having 4 out of 10 volunteers show up, I think she handled the whole thing totally wrong. You don't want to deter someone from volunteering with the organization by leaving a bad taste in their mouth, smh.....

Anyway, after that I removed myself from several projects and only signed up for two new ones, in addition to the two regular ones I do a month. I get it though, be a person of your word.  Christ House
Christ House opened in December 1985 as the first 24-hour residential medical facilities for homeless men and women in the United States. Today, Christ House is still the only facility of its kind in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area where over 6,000 people experience homelessness every day. To the best of our knowledge, there are only 13 stand-alone residential medical facilities for the homeless like Christ House in all of the U.S. and Canada. Patients are admitted to Christ House from area hospitals, shelters, clinics, and medical outreach projects. They suffer from a variety of illnesses and injuries including cancer, hypertension and stroke, liver disease, kidney failure, diabetes and related amputations, HIV/AIDS, respiratory disease, major lacerations, fractures, and ulcerations of the skin. Many are malnourished, anemic, depressed, and desperately disconnected from healthy sources of support.

The mission of Christ House is to provide comprehensive health care to sick, homeless men and women from the District of Columbia, and to assist them in addressing critical issues to help break the cycle of homelessness. The goal for the day was to prepare food for the individuals who are residents of the facility.  We prepped the food, set up the dining room, served drinks and served lunch to the residents. The meal consisted of lasagna, salad and garlic bread which sounded great to me but allot of the residents scoffed at, lol. They usually prefer chicken or some kind of meat for some reason, which I can understand. I also got a change to chat up some of the residents and one of them told me that I looked like I kicked a dead bird! Which meant I looked sad to him, lol.... I am naturally very chill person, who looks emotionless at time but am quite passionate.

*On a final note check out a video about Christ House.

http://www.christhouse.org/about/index.html

CAFB x TWO... Feeding Hope. Nourishing Change. Creating Sustainability.

I am happy to report that I am very close to my volunteer anniversary! It has been almost a year since I started on a quest that was initially only supposed to last 6 months. It all began in April of 2011, when I had a dream in my heart and plan to make it happen. There have been allot of bumps along the way but I kept it moving (even through the cold months and snow). 

Along the way I have made new friends, found perspective and fulfilled a portion of God's purpose for my life. As a Christian, I feel that it is my duty to be a true disciple of Christ by living life like he did, which includes serving others. Jesus spent his whole life in service to others, healing the sick, feeding the hungry and teaching the world to walk in love.  In the book of Matthew Jesus teaches his disciples the greatest commandment of the law, which is to (a) Love the the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all of your soul and (b) Love your neighbor as your self. You never know where life will take you or what hardships may come your way. So do for others what you would want others to do for you if you where in need.

Another passage in Matthew comes to mind when I think about service.  In Matthew 20: 20-28, Jesus teaches his disciples about service to others.  When the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus asking him to let her Sons sit in places of honor next to him in heaven, the disciples got mad. Jesus explains that the while the rulers of this world flaunt their authority over you, among you it will be different.  Whoever wants to be a leader among you must become your servant and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave, For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. So I choose to spend my life in service to others in every way that I possibly can through physical and financial support.

I have been to the Capital Area Food Bank several times before and each time completing a new task with the same goal in mind, to bag food for the brown bag program that the CAFB has. I have sorted bags to be filled, filled bags in the grocery line and was what I call a "food handler" that directly handled the food to be placed in bags. Well this time around I had a little company my niece Tyti, who I think really enjoyed her time at the CAFB. We stayed for over two hours, almost three.  As a group we finished filling the bags for the brown bag program ahead of schedule, so we were allowed to sort food from the palates of donated food (mad manual labor but fun!) into piles for future volunteer sessions. The sorting sounds boring but was actually cool, it was like shopping at the ultimate grocery store (in my mind I was placing supermarket sweep, lol). See the pic's and video below : )

*On a final note I made a new service stop for the first time in months, and had a good conversation with a fellow Greater DC Cares volunteer that encouraged me to become a volunteer leader, which I will talk about later.

ACT and change Lives.



It feels like forever that I have shared my experiences in a post and it has been forever. I started out in April of 2011 with a goal to serve at least twice a month, in two different places for six months and even though I did not reach my goal (almost made it!), the whole experience has really impacted my life. Four months into the whole experience, I was on track to cross the finish line and meet the goals I set for myself. I served at two different places each month, which included the good, the bad and the ugly. Some places were more organized and others I missed more than half of the allotted serving time due to direction difficulties (smh). The latter months of my journey, I did not serve at two different places a month but I did serve at least once a month. I ended up really liking one place in particular, Loaves and Fishes, a non profit run by St. Stephen and Incarnation Episcopal Church in DC, that serves lunch to the homeless community of within the city. Loaves has a special place in my heart. So for the past couple of months, I have spent my Sundays and Saturdays there. I am re-dedicating  myself to writing in this blog. I really want to share my experiences with all those who would like to hear and hopefully encourage others to step out and be an aadvocate for those in need in their community. My goal in 2012 is to continue to serve those in my community at some of my favorite organizations but at the same time step out of the box once again and try some new serving opportunities. In addition to service, I would like to give financially to different organizations that are close to my heart. God has blessed me with so much in life, I really want to give back to those in need financially and service wise. 

* I have allot on my heart to share in 2012.  Stay tuned....

Missions and Meeting Needs



I know that I have not updated my blog as much as I have in the past but I am happy to report that I am still keeping up with my goal of volunteering at least twice a month! I last volunteered at Food for All in northwest Washington, DC but this is not what this post is about today.  In May my good friend Krystle came to visit from Tulsa, Oklahoma.  She has recently come from back from a missions trip in Haiti and spoke of all the awesome things God did in the lives of the people that they ministered to in the country. During the conversation she mentioned the needs of the people and how great they were.  People were saved, healed and delivered from various things. One day after ministering to a group of children she had a small bag of snacks left over from earlier, which she proceeded to give the children as she left. While driving away she noticed that they children were fighting over the food. This really broke my heart....

My Opinion:

I believe that many Christians hearts are in the right place when they choose to venture out and minister to those who need Christ in their lives around the world. I often hear from those who minister the gospel around the globe about the awesome things that God has done in the lives of the people in various countries. My question is, what happens when those missionaries leave and go back to their normal everyday lives? Too often, the very lives of the people that have been touched are hanging in the balance because their everyday needs are not being met. Those same people live in poverty, are hungry, homeless and sick. 

Why not minister the gospel and meet the needs of the people at the same time? I think that along with the word of God, we need to go armed with the tools necessary (i.e. food, clothes, water, medicine, money for schools and housing) to meet the needs of the people in whatever country we venture out to.  It is my hope to one day start an organization that does just that. Creates a balance by sending people out to minister the word of God but arm them to meet the needs of the people as well. Right now all of this is just a thought and the beginning...

Loaves and Fishes... Plus One : )



The month of May came to end allot quicker than I planned but I am happy to report that I am still working towards my goal. The time I spent at Loaves and Fishes was great and I even convinced one of my friends to join me.  She actually took the place of my niece who was supposed to go with me. We originally planned to take the metro to the project site but I was running late and ran into traffic on the way to her house, so she ended up driving which was a blessing. Her car has an awesome GPS that got us to our destination without any problems.  I plan to volunteer at Food for all in DC tomorrow but instead of driving I think it will be best to take the metro. I already have one freakin parking ticket and don't need anymore. I am also not too fond of getting lost again like I did last time, lol...

Loaves and Fishes is operated by St. Stephen & the Incarnation Episcopal Church in Washington DC. They started the food service program in the 60's to feed homeless individuals in the city.  In the bible Matthew spoke of many people gathering from the surrounding countryside to hear Christ’s preaching. At the end of this long day, 5000 people were in need of food and lodging. The disciples’ first instinct was to send the people away to fend for themselves. Christ asks for the food at hand: 5 barley loaves and 2 fish. He blesses this meager meal, and then asks to have it distributed. The gathered throng had enough to eat, and more, such that there were enough leftovers to fill 12 baskets. That scripture was the driving force behind the name and the program itself.

When we arrived at the church, the other volunteers were speaking to the kitchen service leader who was giving instructions on the specifics of how the session was going to go. There were two main volunteer's who actually cooked the food while we were there. I believe they attend the church and volunteer on a regular basis. Once the food was cooked we began plating the food for service. We plated trays and trays of food. Each tray of food had a main entree, vegetables, bread and a dessert. Halfway through plating the food, I was pulled to begin serving the food to the hungry masses that awaited us in the dinning hall. The volunteers were split into teams of two. One person pulled the trays off of the carts while other person served the food. While I was serving the food, I looked around at the people who were at each of the tables. The people in the room were of all races and ages. It really shocked me to see people there my age that were in need. It just goes to show you how some many of us are just one step away from being in being in that person in need.


After the first, second and third round of food was served, the leftover food was distributed to anyone who wanted to take something with them. After we cleaned the dinning hall and put the tables away we left for the day.  Overall I thought the experience was great and I plan to go back again and bring others with me. 

* On a final note my friend Michelle managed to take some pics of us at the end of the day after we finished for the day.

Washington Parks and People

I am coming up on my second month volunteering and for the most part all of my experiences have been positive. I have felt a connection to the mission of each organization that I have helped and usually leave with a new perspective on life. I signed up to volunteer with Washington Parks and People to help clean up and refurbish  Marvin Gaye Community Park in DC. First of all let me say that I am familiar with the area where the assignment was but I still manged to get lost trying to find the freaking place! I lived less than 10 minutes away from that park for a good portion of my life but I still found a way to get lost! 
Most of the places I have volunteered at thus far  have had clear markers and signs so that you could not miss where the event was happening. Even though an address was provided for where exactly the event would be, the park was abnormally empty, which I thought was a bad sign.

The park itself is really big and is segmented along Foote street in Northeast, DC. I think I spent a good 20 minutes riding around the area trying to find out where I was supposed to be.  After circling the area like a fool a couple of times someone flagged me down and asked me if I was there to volunteer. After I parked my car and signed the volunteer form, I waited and waited and waited for the volunteer representative to show up to guide me to the site where the other volunteers where. When he did show up he seemed pre-occupied because he was speaking on his cell phone. When he finally did get off of his cell phone he informed me that only two volunteers had showed up and they were organizing a tool shed somewhere in the park. Apparently not enough volunteers showed up to complete the other events that they had scheduled, so he basically let me know there was nothing else for me to do.

Of course I was disappointed : ( .  According to group the sign up sheet for DC Cares, a total of 7 volunteers were scheduled to help clean up to the park in the first place. Only 3 volunteers showed up, which did not look so great. On the other hand I am not too sure the event organizer (cell phone man, lol) had everything ready for the event in the first place. I mean who turns away a volunteer who is willing to help out your cause. It only takes one man to make a change! After my experience at this event I feel less inclined to volunteer again with WPAP.

* On a final note I intend on volunteering somewhere else this month or early next month to make up for this event mishap. I am scheduled to volunteer to feed the homeless at Loaves and Fishes in DC this Sunday and I hope everything goes well. I have also found a willing participant to go with me, aka my niece Tyti of community service to. She needs to complete a certain number of hours to graduate from high school next year, so she will be tagging along with me during some of my adventures. 

Casey Trees

I began the search for my next chapter in my new mission shortly after I decided to volunteer at the CAFB. I ran across the assignment for Casey Trees and thought it sounded awesome. I am not really an "outdoors" kind of girl and I never planted a tree before, so I signed up and made my merry way to the city. The morning of April 30 rolled around and I actually contemplated not going. I was partially suffering from a of lingering bout with food poison from an particular franchise sub shop that shall remain nameless!  None the less, I arrived 40 minutes late to the site of the planting.  When I arrived everyone was already in action digging soil and planting trees.  I stopped by the registration table and spoke to a representative from the organization and apologized for being late. He was just happy that I showed up to help out at all. His thought was better late than never. There were other volunteers who showed up an hour later than I did which made me feel allot better, lol. The instructor gave me a short instructional information session about the tree planting process, the organization and it's impact on the DC metropolitan area.

Through my discussion with the Casey Tree's instructor, I found out that the organization is committed to restoring, enhancing and protecting the tree canopy of the nation's capital.  To fulfill it's mission, Casey Trees plants trees, engages thousands of volunteers of all ages in tree planting and care, provides year-round continuing education courses, monitors the city's tree canopy, develops interactive online tree tools and works with elected officials, developers and community groups to protect and care for existing trees and to encourage them to add new ones. As of late I have noticed the amount of trees that are cut down and replaced with mini-malls, office buildings, condos or houses across the DC Area.  It great to know that someone cares about replacing at least some of the trees that we loose in the process of all the urban sprawl.

While at Congress Heights Community Park, I learned about the safe keeping of various planting tools, trees the organization plants and how to plant a tree . We rolled out the tree we intended on planting and dug a whole 2-3 times the width, depth and height of the root bulb (i.e-the round sack of roots at the bottom of the tree).  We placed all the soil we dug up on a tarp and once the hole was complete we put the tree inside. I got to use this really awesome tool to cut the wires and burlap that surrounded  the root bulb but I was more excited about getting to use a pick-axe to break the ground for the next tree we were planting! After we placed the tree in the hole we covered it with the soil we originally dug up and tied each side for the tree together to make sure it remains stable. The process sounds quite simple but it can be labor intensive at least to me, lol...

I think I was most impressed with the fact that the organization returns to each of it's planting sites to maintain the trees that it has planted. During the summer they hire a bunch of college and high school students to assist with caring, maintaining, and watering each tree site.

*Check out the pictures of the tree planting below
Pictures of Congress Heights Tree Planting

Why Should I Help Out?

Just the other day, I was asked a couple of questions about volunteering by some friends and family members that I thought were important to respond to.  I was specifically asked “Why should I volunteer and how does volunteering impact the community?”

Too much complaining not enough action:

Way too often, I hear people complaining about the state of things in America and the community they live in. We all hear the grumblings about the terrible state of the economy and the number of people without jobs.  Americans that were in the position to donate cash, food, and supplies to homeless shelters and soup kitchens are now those in need.  There have been a record number of home foreclosures and an increase in the number of individuals who are either homeless or rely on some kind of assistance to provide food, clothes and shelter for their family. There are “too many drug addicts roaming the neighborhood, drug dealers on the corner, misguided kids in gangs or in jail etc… The problem is that everyone expects the police, teachers, churches and the government to solve the America’s problems, which is a starting point but it is often not enough. It only takes one man to effect change so start with yourself.

Disproportionate needs in the minority community:

Around the second time I volunteered I began to notice a couple of things. Most of the individuals who were volunteering to feed the homeless, tutor inner city kids or plant trees in Southeast, Washington, DC did not look like me at all. This confused me because most of the impact areas we were reaching out to were in urban areas. These areas are filled with minorities but we were often not the ones giving back.  I love that people of all races are giving back to the community all around them but my hope is that more African American's will began to reach out and make a positive impact on those their own community.

Giving Back Impacts Your World:

Being a part of a couple of service projects in the DC area has really opened up my eyes. I realized how much I have taken for granted and begin to think of different ways volunteering has impacted my community. The newly planted trees, playground and vegetable garden in my neighborhood park were more than likely the result of a dedicated group of volunteers.  The after school tutoring programs for inner city kids and poverty to work programs that prepare those in low income areas for the workplace are often staffed with volunteers.

The Captial Area Food Bank

The zeal I had for my new found passion was quite evident to all those around me. I really tried to reel some of my friends and family into my new quest but alas… nobody would join me.  I think the way things panned out was for the best anyway.  I look at this as an opportunity to grow, get out of my comfort zone and embrace new experiences in life. I can’t honestly think of the last time I said to myself “this is the first time I have done something”.  With all that being said, I am happy to report that I am one month closer to my goal. I actually completed my first day as a volunteer at the Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB), which I later discovered was quite close The Catholic University of America. 

 On April 2, 2011, I rolled out of bed and reviewed the information about my first assignment. I also reviewed exactly what the CAFB was all about.  The CAFB is  the largest, nonprofit hunger and nutrition education resource in the Washington Metropolitan area.  Their mission is to help feed DC area residents who are facing or at risk of hunger. The CAFB also works to educate, empower and enlighten the community about the issues of hunger and nutrition. Once I had grasp of it's mission I set out to my destination.One a side note, I was initially the most nervous about getting lost and not making it to the CAFB on time. My closest friends and family know that I don’t have the best since of direction when it comes to driving around the city, lol….. To my surprise I actually arrived early, so I sat in my car and drank my coffee until my volunteer shift began.  I walked in feeling kind of lost and afraid but was quickly pointed in the right direction by a weekend volunteer leader at the warehouse.  They asked if I came with a group or individually and then when I mentioned DC Cares, they led me to my group leader and team.

While waiting for further instruction from the warehouse volunteers, I found out more about the CAFB Brown Bag Program. The CAFB uses their Brown Bag Program to educate the community about the importance of healthy diets and provides senior citizens in low-income housing with monthly bags of food and educational information on nutrition in 34 different locations in the DC area. They also provide temporary food assistance to other low income residents around DC. The warehouse volunteer leader informed us as a group that over the next three hours, we would be packing and sorting food that would be distributed to various low income residents in the area. During my time in the warehouse I broke down the palettes that contained food and organized and packed it the food into bags. Each bag contained food for three meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and even a snack. The whole process was done as a group in one big assembly line which I thought was cool. I got a chance to chat up some very cool people and gain a new prospective  on the plight of the hungry in DC.

*On a final note about an hour into my session the whole warehouse was informed that the CAFB would be shooting a video of the volunteer process at their DC warehouse. The camera crew took pictures of us in action on the food assembly line as well as filmed the process as a whole. First of all, I thought this was hilarious because out of all the days I choose to help out, a camera crew shows up! Second of all I looked all kinds of crazy and beat down because I figured nobody would care or see me anyway, ha!

Finding The Taget

Ok, so I made the decision to volunteer and that sounds great but where do I begin? At one point I googled volunteer opportunites in the DC metro area which provided me with tons of results to say that least. Maybe there were too many options for me to choose from or maybe my ADD kicked in as I sifted through the tons of choices before me but I gave up on my search at that point.  While reading an article on the Washington Post's website about ways to meet new people in my area I heard about a non-profit called Greater DC Cares. DC Cares mobilizes volunteers and strengthens nonprofits to better impact communities and the key issues in the Greater DC Region. Greater DC Cares works with a network of more than 800 nonprofits, 32,000 volunteers and a host of corporate and foundation partners working together to positively impact the region. The website was just awsome and it helped me narrow my focus (this is in no way shape or form a subliminal "hook" or advertisement like they put out on Twitter). I think I appreciated how organized the website was because I am not the most organized or detailed person at times. It helped target my interests so that I can help feed the homeless or work with abused pets if that was my choice, instead of handing out "save the trees" flyers in the middle of DC in 90 degree heat, lol......

If You Want to Change the World Be That Change

Years after high school and two degree's later I finally get it. If you want to change the world you have to be that change. My initial interest in volunteering was sparked a couple of years ago while I was in graduate school. Two years after I completed my graduate degree I found myself wondering what was next. I had alot of time on my hands for the first time in years and nothing to do. As corny as it sounds I looked back on my young life and all that I had accomplished and felt the need to give back somehow. I was finally in a place where I saw the world for what it was. It was full of people and problems screaming for help. So I decided that I should stop waiting on the world to change and do something about it. At the beginning of this year I decided to start volunteering twice a month for six months in various places doing various things to reach out and help the community around me and plant that seed that was in my heart for years. Thus my journey has began :  )