An Experience Like No Other...

So this week I had to take some serious action towards my lack of volunteering. Luckily for me, the people at St. John’s Kitchen accept new volunteers with open arms. My partner in crime, Olivia, and I, woke up at the crack of dawn this past Tuesday and Thursday and accumulated half of our hours. But the amount of hours is beside the point; I know that after I've completed the necessary amount for the program, I'll still volunteer until it's time for me to leave to India.
So I guess now it’s fitting to share my experience…

First of all, it was A LOT of work! There's a lot of time and energy that goes into running the kitchen, and let's just say, the work that I had to do would make my mother really proud! I mean, I do chores at home, but even one of the older volunteers I met said that our mothers would be proud of us mopping the floors, bussing the tables, cleaning the showers/bathrooms and stairs and preparing and serving the food! It was sort of like, "Okay Raquel, welcome to the real world!" It was great though! The many chores made the day go by really quickly. It was when I reached home that I felt the aches and lethargy of the day’s activities, and had a nice nap!

But on to the more exciting stuff...

The woman in charge, Gretchen, is one character! She is great with the volunteers and the people and the regulars that come in to eat, and she cracks me up, which always makes the job fun! The great thing I realized as St. John's is that everyone there is like one big family. The sense of community I saw was tremendous, and everyone pitches in to get the jobs done. The people that eat there know the place inside out, so they were there to give some guidance and direction, and they also helped to serve the food and clean up. What made the days really great for me was the gratification we received from the staff and the people who eat at the kitchen; that at the end of each day, there was always someone to say, "Thanks girls, you did a great job today!" That simple thank-you went a long way; and I mean a long way. I’m not going to deny it, I was tired after everything! But to hear that, made it all worth it, because I’m sure they’re all aware of the hard work it takes daily, to make sure everything runs smoothly! I certainly left St. Johns with a smile on my face!

Now this change in plans obviously means that I have not yet volunteered at kidsLINK, which I’m really upset about, because I was really looking forward to working with the children at the different centers. Unfortunately, my police report has taken FOREVER to complete, and I cannot volunteer without it, so I could not wait any longer and had to shift gears. Hopefully I can work something out with the coordinator, and she will accept me at a later date if I return to Waterloo.

That’s it for this week,

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