After making the many sandwiches and preparing everything for the homeless people who would be coming through the line (condiments for sandwiches, salt pepper, lemonade, coffee and soup, of course!) we saw the line of many people circle around the back of the church, past the dumpsters and continue down the line. At approximately 11:00 am, the sandwich and soup line started.
The surprising thing for me were the people who walked through the line. My preception of the poor in America is that most of the homeless are drug addicts, alcoholics and social pariahs due to self induced and socially unacceptable behaviors. But, I learned a valuable lesson about this...did it really matter if someone is homeless for whatever reason? I feel that we have an obligation to help those who cannot help themselves...a play on Benjamin Franklin's original "God helps those who help themselves..." Men, women, old and young, they were all in the line.
By going to the Food Bank of the Rockies and speaking with our contact there, Olive, we were informed of the increase in attendees to the bank as well as seeing the physical building made me painfully aware of the huge problem we are dealing with now and possibly in the future, with the economy being the way it is. Even the Metro Food Bank has an exponential rise compared to last semester. Last semester 400 students came to get food, this semester the food bank is average around 30 students a day, thats 180 students in a week making the total number of students needing assistance from the food bank at Metro 720.
I have learned that we need a food bank, also that the a person's history should never predicate an individuals need for the basic necessities of life and together we can eradicate poverty on many different levels. Think Global Act Local Be Metro...that's what I would wish all of you to consider while you remain at Metro.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
St. Elizabeth's of Hungary
I created too much suspense for myself-so, here's the segment about St. Elizabeths.
Part of the challenge for the Metro Food Bank was to spend three hours donating our time to either St. Elizabeth's or to the Food Bank of the Rockies. I it's a cosmically synchronic moment of my life wherein I give back. My existence is in part due to the kindness of strangers in providing me with food, so I did both. Felipe and Erik also did both. Chantay and Jeannine went to the Food Bank of the Rockies two different times...a feat to be sure. I will tell you about the FBR later.
St. Elizabeth's is located on campus! I know I didn't know that all the building weren't about us. St. Elizabeth's is a church with real mass and everything. It's gorgeous on the inside and during mass is seeped in tradition. I love it because I have always loved mass or any other church I have been too were you can feel faith wrapped around you like bacon wrapped shrimp...ahhhh...all this food talk has made my stomach grumble and me oh so hungry. Alas my bacon-wrapped-shrimp days are far behind me when my family used to pay for dinner and the economy wasn't so iffy.
Back to St. Elizabeth's...the soup kitchen is located in the basement. Liz, a lovely lady, is one of those character's who is always moving, is the manager. She is joyful and effervescent in a way that cannot be described and would probably make most people tired. Well, imagine it. It's sunday morning. I know you already want to go back to bed now. But honestly what a lady. She makes homemade soup for over 100 people, last Sunday it was a delicious turkey soup. Bob, one of the volunteers put in chili pepper, he does the additional flavoring-and helps Liz with everything in the morning. Bob, Felipe, Erik and I made over 180 sandwiches that morning. We then served nearly 130 homeless citizens of our nation.
Part of the challenge for the Metro Food Bank was to spend three hours donating our time to either St. Elizabeth's or to the Food Bank of the Rockies. I it's a cosmically synchronic moment of my life wherein I give back. My existence is in part due to the kindness of strangers in providing me with food, so I did both. Felipe and Erik also did both. Chantay and Jeannine went to the Food Bank of the Rockies two different times...a feat to be sure. I will tell you about the FBR later.
St. Elizabeth's is located on campus! I know I didn't know that all the building weren't about us. St. Elizabeth's is a church with real mass and everything. It's gorgeous on the inside and during mass is seeped in tradition. I love it because I have always loved mass or any other church I have been too were you can feel faith wrapped around you like bacon wrapped shrimp...ahhhh...all this food talk has made my stomach grumble and me oh so hungry. Alas my bacon-wrapped-shrimp days are far behind me when my family used to pay for dinner and the economy wasn't so iffy.
Back to St. Elizabeth's...the soup kitchen is located in the basement. Liz, a lovely lady, is one of those character's who is always moving, is the manager. She is joyful and effervescent in a way that cannot be described and would probably make most people tired. Well, imagine it. It's sunday morning. I know you already want to go back to bed now. But honestly what a lady. She makes homemade soup for over 100 people, last Sunday it was a delicious turkey soup. Bob, one of the volunteers put in chili pepper, he does the additional flavoring-and helps Liz with everything in the morning. Bob, Felipe, Erik and I made over 180 sandwiches that morning. We then served nearly 130 homeless citizens of our nation.
The Challenge Begins-
SO-I had this great blog started and then got distracted for one second and it disappeared into the oblivion of the internet!!! RRRRRRRRRR. Okay. rrrrrr. Estoy tranquila.
The first challenge officially started and we are to draft a strategic plan for the Food Bank of MSCD. You are probably thinking the same thing I thought-food bank, say wha?, when's it open and what can I get??? I think we all understand the poor college student factor. It made me think that we never consider ourselves, rich America in that category. At least I didn't. Usually when those late night commercials come on the television, they are always about children with gaunt limbs, swollen bellies and protruding ribs. Sadly, we never see the faces of hunger in our own backyard. I have been meaning to write about my experiences with the soup kitchen/sandwich line at St. Elizabeths of Hungary and also at the Food Bank of the Rockies. This I will do in a bit and a different blog so as to not to lose my current blog into the sock-stealing-dryer that is the internet.
A little background. Metro's food bank has been open since last semester and is primarily funded by on-campus entities, mainly the Student Government. Three people have been on the forefront of its maintenance, student Britney and staff members Joanna and Steve. So we have been hashing out many a plan.
I truly didn't know Metro had a need even after having been given the project at first, I was wondering what the heck was going on. Unfortunately I had succumbed to the what I feel is a widely accepted belief that we, in America, are not poor. This is really sad for me because having been adopted from India, I lived in extreme poverty, to the extent of knowing what it is like to beg for food. I forgive myself though, because I was a child and my mother has given me a wonderfully privileged life. And perhaps it's easy to separate ourselves from this idea of extreme because we don't experience it to the extent of other nations. We have all seen the images of barren lands with starving bodies strewn about dusty puzzle pieces of land...
and we don't see this here...
so, does it even exist?
Oh my gosh-YES!
There is a question of relative poverty and this I came to witness in several different ways by this project alone...I will discuss this in my next blog...it's my way of leaving you in suspense...
You know you can't wait.
The first challenge officially started and we are to draft a strategic plan for the Food Bank of MSCD. You are probably thinking the same thing I thought-food bank, say wha?, when's it open and what can I get??? I think we all understand the poor college student factor. It made me think that we never consider ourselves, rich America in that category. At least I didn't. Usually when those late night commercials come on the television, they are always about children with gaunt limbs, swollen bellies and protruding ribs. Sadly, we never see the faces of hunger in our own backyard. I have been meaning to write about my experiences with the soup kitchen/sandwich line at St. Elizabeths of Hungary and also at the Food Bank of the Rockies. This I will do in a bit and a different blog so as to not to lose my current blog into the sock-stealing-dryer that is the internet.
A little background. Metro's food bank has been open since last semester and is primarily funded by on-campus entities, mainly the Student Government. Three people have been on the forefront of its maintenance, student Britney and staff members Joanna and Steve. So we have been hashing out many a plan.
I truly didn't know Metro had a need even after having been given the project at first, I was wondering what the heck was going on. Unfortunately I had succumbed to the what I feel is a widely accepted belief that we, in America, are not poor. This is really sad for me because having been adopted from India, I lived in extreme poverty, to the extent of knowing what it is like to beg for food. I forgive myself though, because I was a child and my mother has given me a wonderfully privileged life. And perhaps it's easy to separate ourselves from this idea of extreme because we don't experience it to the extent of other nations. We have all seen the images of barren lands with starving bodies strewn about dusty puzzle pieces of land...
and we don't see this here...
so, does it even exist?
Oh my gosh-YES!
There is a question of relative poverty and this I came to witness in several different ways by this project alone...I will discuss this in my next blog...it's my way of leaving you in suspense...
You know you can't wait.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The Holidays and the New Year-When does school start again???
I think there is an overwhelming sense of great expectation with each and every holiday. It's like waking up in the morning and knowing that yesterday has ceased to exist but today the sun is shining, life is new and finally one can seize the day, again. I can feel this especially around the holidays specifically within the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year time frame. I, like many of us come from what can only be conceived as a traditional family now, and shifted between my mom and my dad. So, for me, the exhilaration resides in the turkey, stuffing and the candied yams with the pineapple bits and marshmallows. Plentiful in two different households-we make out like bandits in the food and gift department don't we?
This holiday was a bit different for me and hence the question when does school start?? Because I am ready! And it's not because of the recession nor because I wound up at an Indian restaurant on Thanksgiving. My grandfather passed away on December 27th. It's not to say he wasn't ready, he was 96 years old. He wanted to go. What was interesting is that he waited until he said goodbye to all of us. We are strewn about the west coast and for a moment we were together and it was in that moment he chose to go.
My grandfather and I have an interesting bond. When I was adopted from India, I technically didn't have a real birthday, so I was given my grandfather's birthday. It was my grandfather who taught me how to play the various types of poker when I was a 9-year-old. I won $9.48-he claimed it was beginner's luck. In middle school he explained that life has it's ups and downs, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose...but the game is sticking to it, not to the outcome. He proved that statement when he received his GED-he was 80. One of the last times I saw him, he was oddly lucid. A nurse wheeled him from the dining room to me. As she wheeled him out she asked him if he knew who I was. He was suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia-understandable at 96. And he replied "You betcha. I know exactly who she is." The nurse asked him who I looked like to which he stated, matter-of-factly, "Me, of course." A comedian to the very end, he knew very well that he doesn't look anything like me. But, he held my hand and told me he was very lucky to have me for a granddaughter. He was a man rich in friends, family, love and life.
It's been a rough holiday. It's is nothing new to the ages of holidays I am sure. It's documented in songs, hollywood and even some of your own lives. It all comes down to expectations, however. I went into this holiday expecting it to be amazing and to an extent it was. I had the most perfect moment with my grandfather. Surprisingly the feeling of great expectation didn't die with this holiday. It has shifted from this abstract idea leading up to a magical day when Santa has come or the baby beating out the old man for the arrival of the new year, somehow the magic has reappeared again as a moment in the morning when I realize today...I have today...yes, a new day!
On that note...I am motivated and ready to go! When does school start???
This holiday was a bit different for me and hence the question when does school start?? Because I am ready! And it's not because of the recession nor because I wound up at an Indian restaurant on Thanksgiving. My grandfather passed away on December 27th. It's not to say he wasn't ready, he was 96 years old. He wanted to go. What was interesting is that he waited until he said goodbye to all of us. We are strewn about the west coast and for a moment we were together and it was in that moment he chose to go.
My grandfather and I have an interesting bond. When I was adopted from India, I technically didn't have a real birthday, so I was given my grandfather's birthday. It was my grandfather who taught me how to play the various types of poker when I was a 9-year-old. I won $9.48-he claimed it was beginner's luck. In middle school he explained that life has it's ups and downs, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose...but the game is sticking to it, not to the outcome. He proved that statement when he received his GED-he was 80. One of the last times I saw him, he was oddly lucid. A nurse wheeled him from the dining room to me. As she wheeled him out she asked him if he knew who I was. He was suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia-understandable at 96. And he replied "You betcha. I know exactly who she is." The nurse asked him who I looked like to which he stated, matter-of-factly, "Me, of course." A comedian to the very end, he knew very well that he doesn't look anything like me. But, he held my hand and told me he was very lucky to have me for a granddaughter. He was a man rich in friends, family, love and life.
It's been a rough holiday. It's is nothing new to the ages of holidays I am sure. It's documented in songs, hollywood and even some of your own lives. It all comes down to expectations, however. I went into this holiday expecting it to be amazing and to an extent it was. I had the most perfect moment with my grandfather. Surprisingly the feeling of great expectation didn't die with this holiday. It has shifted from this abstract idea leading up to a magical day when Santa has come or the baby beating out the old man for the arrival of the new year, somehow the magic has reappeared again as a moment in the morning when I realize today...I have today...yes, a new day!
On that note...I am motivated and ready to go! When does school start???
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