ServiceLearningLog-MarisaRodriguez

Meal Prep Shift on April 30th, 2008
Two hours worked

Megan, Jamie, and I left Centennial Halls around 4:30. I thought that half an hour would be plenty of time to get to Project Angel Heart. On saturdays it only took about twenty-five minutes so I thought we would be right on time. I planned on taking I-25 to I-70 and then getting onto Colorado. Jamie thought that I-25 would be a bad idea considering that it was rush hour. She was very right. Traffic wasn’t moving very quickly on I-25 so we decided to get off at the Downing exit and try to make our way back to Colorado. I desperately wanted to avoid Colorado because all of the lights can get quite frustrating. Jamie called her boyfriend and asked him to look up a route back to Colorado. He told us to take Colfax back to Colorado. On Colfax, Megan showed us the Women’s Shelter at which she volunteers. She told us how she rides the bus and walks a few blocks to get there. She explained how they have great services for women; Megan worked at the children’s center which women can leave their children while they are receiving services. The route down Colfax was helpful and helped us learn about Megan, but it was time consuming. As time got later and later, I gradually become more worried of being late. Colfax intersected Colorado around 15th St., which meant that we had another twenty-five blocks to go. How frustrating. We arrived about ten minutes late but the man in charge didn’t seem to mind at all.

Sad to say, I never heard the man’s name. He wore a hat and had a redish-orange tattoo on one of his arms. While we worked he sat at a computer in one of the offices. He was patient with us, though not overly nice. When we first arrived, he taught us how to wash our hands and told us to put on aprons. Then he demonstrated how to chop celery. We had a few large bins to chop. We stationed our selves on one of the large metal tables and began to chop. We felt disappointed to be so separated from the rest of the kitchen, but soon after many of the other volunteers came over to help chop celery as well as onions. While we were chopping, Anne came over to thank us for helping. I mentioned how we are from Geoffrey Bateman’s class and how we were very excited to be there. I didn’t see Anne again for the remainder of the evening. She must have gone home.

After we completed our celery chopping, the man gave us another large task. He announced how we were all going to give the kitchen a deep cleaning. How enthusiastic we were! He showed us where to retrieve all of our cleaning supplies, and where to clean. I spent most of my time scrubbing the walk-in refrigerator. We worked as a team. One girl poured the soapy water on the floor while three of us scrubbed. Once the floor looked sopping wet, we mopped it up. Another lady helped with the mopping. It was nice having the older volunteers help because they seemed to know exactly where all of the supplies were and what tasks to do. We followed their lead for the mopping patterns of the rest of the kitchen. After the kitchen was well mopped, we dumped our water out on the floor by a drain, and returned the bucket where we found it.

I didn’t talk much with the older volunteers. They seemed indifferent to our presence. I interacted with them a bit, such as when we were dumping out the water, a man had to tell me how to take the bucket apart. I talked a lot more with the students from the core class that is also volunteering at Angel Heart this quarter. I talked with a girl named Amanda. We talked about studying abroad, majors, and requirements. I really liked her. She was easy going. There were a couple other students that Amanda had come with from her class. I didn’t learn either of their names, but the girl worked very hard and the boy worked with Jamie and I while we scrubbed. At the end of our shift we took a picture with one of the older volunteers and the students from the core class.

During this kitchen shift, I learned a lot about how a non-profit is run. It relies highly on the volunteers not only to prepare to food but also to keep the kitchen acceptable. I had expected to cut carrots for two hours. Instead, I was assigned something very unexpected. I hadn’t realized how important it is to keep the kitchen up and running. The food wouldn’t be able to reach the clients if there was no place to cook it and store it. It made me realize how much goes on behind the scenes to run an organization like this. I also observed the relationships between the other volunteers. They joked with each other and seemed to enjoy being in each other’s company. I believe this to be very different from a work setting, where the workers may not interact and may even treat each other poorly. Since for most of these volunteers they do it by choice, it influences their attitudes. This may not always be the case, though. There may be many work places where the employees enjoy each others company and work collaboratively together. I just think that the volunteers at Angel Heart may enjoy being together because they do it on a regular basis and because for the most part, they are willingly choosing it.

By volunteering at Project Angel Heart, I feel so extremely thankful for organizations like this. I have learned so much about how interacting with others isn’t necessarily about what we will gain but how the lives of others are being enhanced and how the community is taking care of one another. I have definitely changed my view of community service. I see how every bit helps. It doesn’t have to be in black in white or an all or nothing approach. Anyway that we can give to others or even give to the community benefits others. I see how I can give, even just a little to this world. Every small change makes a difference.