We have been pretty busy today since waking up. Most of the group was happy they got to sleep in till 8am, instead of the original plan of getting up at 6:30am to eat with the ladies at Eden Village. Lee, the group program leader here at City of Refuge, said after observing other groups he decided that having grumpy women who didnt want to be up interacting with grumpy college students who didn't want to be up was maybe not such an effective plan. Jen, Samantha, and myself (Tracey), did however still get up around 6:30 to workout in the gym since we knew the day would be busy and might not get a chance to workout later.
So... after getting up and eating breakfast we cleaned up the 180 degree kitchen area and the area we used for church service by sweeping the floor than divded into 2 groups, half of us going to the clothing closet to tidy up and sort donated clothing, and half of us staying at the 180 degree kitchen to help clean up and set up. I ended up washing dishes for the second time on this trip, which is ok, cause I kinda like washing dishes (but don't tell anyone), then I put raw and frozen chicken breast onto pans to be cooked (mmmm). I have been very impressed both times working in the kitchen at the ability of the ladies running it (Q this morning, and I am not sure the name of the woman yesterday evening) to dole out tasks to such a large group effectively. I felt that each time we have been in there to help, we have actually be given something to do which is helpful to them... I know from being pres of the triathlon club that sometimes delegating is no easy task.
After working in the kitchen, then we met as a group in the kids lounge area (which is pretty nice) to discuss the different stereotypes people have of homeless people and the responsibility of us, corporations, and the government (or no responsibility) to do something to help. I really enjoyed the discussion and actually participated more than I did yesterday although after today I feel like many people in our group are more liberal than I am as the discussion seemed to move towards "the government should be doing more" at the end of the conversation. Everyone was really open to other peoples ideas though which makes me feel like everyones points can still be heard without feeling out of place or awkward. So after the reflection, which we are finishing later, we ate lunch. Delicious!! Chicken parmasean, salad, rice, and stuffing... mmmm.
After eating we went to Compassion where we made boxes of food for needy families. We unpacked lots and lots of boxes of donated food from places like Walmart that are either broken, defective, dented, returned, etc. Then we kinda sorted them, and repacked them more evenly into boxes that could be given out to families. I spent most of my time unpacking, specifically trying to find stuff that was low on the table. So, the boxes are given out to average families (family of 4?) and it is supposed to last them for 30 days... one whole month. Each box had maybe like 2 boxes of cereal, 10 cans of food, and 3 different snack items, plus a few other random goodies. There is no way this lasts a family of 4 for a whole month. That wouldn't even last me for a whole month! I mean, the food should definitely still be handed out and I am super glad they do it, but it is just unrealistic to think that the box could last for a whole month for 4 people with no other food source added. Also, the food is pretty unhealthy which can't really be helped but you can still be overweight and malnourished. It just makes me realize how much I have learned as a KNES major and an educated athlete about food, taking care of yourself, exercise, etc, that I take for granted but other people either don't know about or don't even have the luxery of worrying about. If someone is hungry and they have $3.. they go to McDonalds, not Whole Foods (understandably). This frustrates me and there is nothing I can see that I can do about it. My other dilemma is with Walmart... because I am not a fan of Walmart and some of their business practices (couple of my high school teachers brainwashed me) so I generally refuse to shop there (which I did yesterday... wasn't super excited about it) but then I saw all this food they were donating, so now I am torn as to whether I should be disliking them as strongly... hmmm.
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