Service Learning Log 2, Jessica Rast

For this shift with Project Angel Heart, Katie and I volunteered in the kitchen. When we arrived, Thom who we took to be a kitchen manager/chef greeted us and told us to go wash our hands and find an apron that fit and to put it on. There were a lot of aprons to choose from; I chose a green apron of a respectable size and Katie chose a kid’s apron, maybe just to be contrary. Thom then took us to a row of stainless tables with a cart full of five 20-liter jugs of soup. We were given two ladles and told to scoop the soup into Styrofoam containers to the 2/3rds point so they would not explode because of expansion in the freezer. At first we worked alone, not too close to anyone else in the kitchen.

After about half an hour though, another volunteer named Nicole came and started ladling soup with us. We asked her a few questions and found out that she was from Denver and this was her first time at Project Angel Heart. She was to be a volunteer every Tuesday and Thursday of the end of the month. She was placed there by the judicial system as part of her probation. This made me start to wonder about the volunteer system and the way Americans as a generalization view volunteering.

After we finished with all of the soup (all 100 liters of it) we rolled the stacks of Styrofoam into the freezer and Thom gave us another job. This time we were cutting potatoes with most of the rest of the kitchen volunteers. The potatoes were in the same 20-liter containers and in freezing cold water, and Thom told us to use tongs to get them out or we would soon not be able to feel our hands. So seven of us lined up on the stainless steel tables to cut potatoes, we then started talking and found that the two women across from us were regular kitchen volunteers on Tuesday’s. They seemed very close to each other from this experience and time spent together and were very friendly to everyone. They seemed to know a lot about each other’s lives, asking specific questions and making comments on the kids.

Thom came over while we were cutting potatoes and the two women asked where all of the regular volunteers were; Thom then informed us that 6 of the volunteers had not shown up that day. Katie and I though that two other students from class were supposed to be there so Katie asked if that was true. Thom said yes and then one of the regular volunteers seemed to know that one of the students was Michelle Kwan. They were all a little upset and began to joke about how they had warmed up before volunteering to show off their skate moves. They were also looking forward to getting her autograph.

We continued to cut potatoes until 7:00 at which point Thom told us to start cleaning up. All of the tables had to be sanitized and the floors swept and mopped, the garbage was taken out and the food was put away. This whole process was very efficient, as everyone seemed to have his or her own position in it. After the cleaning was done, we took off our aprons and Thom said thank you and goodbye. We left and said goodbye to all of the other volunteers as well.

I suppose this experience caused my personal growth by way of intellect. I really enjoyed volunteering, but I didn’t much think of why I was doing it or even for whom. What I did think about however was the girl Nicole who we first met at the soup. When she said that she was doing volunteer work as part of her probation, I began to think about what she had done to get where she is now (being forced to volunteer as reprimand for a wrong act). However, I quickly realized that that didn’t matter. She was there for whatever she did, but the fact was that she was being forced to be there. As a common fact, many Americans look at volunteering as a good act, as something done for someone else that can make one feel better about oneself. However, people are forced to volunteer all the time, as part of a probation or as a high school student in order to graduate. If one is forced to do this so called charitable act, is it still charitable, and even more so, does it actually matter? If volunteer work needs to be done, does the means by which it is done matter if the end result is the same? And is forcing people to volunteer actually better in the long run because they are not looking to get any higher moral ground out of it, just to complete time? Or, are the hopes of forcing one to volunteer, especially in the case of probation time, to give a better sense of morals to the one being forced to volunteer? If it is the case that as a generalization Americans do volunteer to feel better about themselves and to raise a sense of morals then it would appear true that in forcing people to volunteer, the hope for him or her would also be to give a sense of higher morals and self betterment. If this is true, then the purpose of volunteering has become to serve oneself, to make oneself better rather than to help the people that need the help and are being provided for by volunteer services in the first place. Again however, I raise the question of whether or not that matters. If the work is still being done, who cares how it is done or what the volunteers get out of it as long as people are still being helped with as much efficiency as before. If this were true however, it would seem that the definition of volunteering would have to be changed. As of now, I see volunteering as a way to give time or some other service without payment in return. I see emotional validation as a form of payment, especially if the volunteer agreement is entered into with the intent of getting this out of it. Similarly, dictionary.com defines volunteering as “[Doing] charitable or helpful work without pay.” This was my thought process during my volunteer shift, so I suppose my payment was this intellectual line of though. By my definition and interpretation of volunteering, it would seem that I expect no one to get anything out of volunteering besides doing it and perhaps the occasional meal in the Project Angel Heart kitchen. Perhaps that is what I mean to say. I cannot expect this to happen however and I am not sure if I would want it to; work without meaning can seem very droning. But again I must ask myself if it actually matters ones motives if the end is the same.