On December 3rd, I got the chance to volunteer at a local food bank called Neighborhood Services.

https://www.neighborhoodservicesinc.org/

This food bank has been open since 1962! I volunteered here from 9:00 am -2:30 pm! It was a long day but a great day.

1950 N 4th St E, Columbus, OH 43201

I helped first with sorting and placing all the meat donations received into different freezers. It seems Thanksgiving was especially kind to the food bank as the donations received were far more than normal! I was luckily able to find a cold place to put all of the meat in an intense game of what felt like Jenga! Then I was taught how to walk each neighbor (the person who we give food too) by walking them around the store and showing them what options of food they could have based on their assigned number of people in the family. This was by far my favorite place to volunteer. I got to meet interact and talk to so many different neighbors about their struggles and it was truly a great experience to see how similar they are to everyone else. A lot of times lower income and homeless people are stigmatized and I saw through this volunteering experience that all of these stereotypes were wrong. Everyone I met was very nice and gracious for the help they were receiving. I learned truly how important social interactions for change are to me. I really feed off the energy and it seemed like the day blew past when I was interacting and really making a difference in these peoples lives. Many of these people were deciding between a sharpie marker or a loaf of bread. It truly taught me how vital simple objects like tape and markers are to making you feel human. Because of service learning, I am grateful for all I have.

On December 1st, I got the opportunity to join other Honors and Scholars students in a Ties for Tots event in which volunteers got to make fleece blankets that will benefit Project Linus and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. From 3 pm to 5 pm at Khun’s Honors and Scholars house, I worked on making a red fleece blanket for a child who is sick during the Christmas season.

This is the blanket I made at the event.

Through this experience, I was able to physically and mentally work through and create something tangible to help a child. It was very tough on my hands and also very monotonous but it was worth it to imagine a lonely child at Nationwide Children’s hospital who would get to have it! I learned through this work that I do enjoy work that is taxing if I can see the product when it is finished. Sometimes projects lead to results that are hard to measure. This project I could actually put my body and mind to work and see the results.

Although taking a long time to make the finished product was a great source of pride!

As a leader I need to learn how to deal with both kind of projects as not all of them will show tangible results. I learned however that I enjoy the activities and volunteer opportunities where I get to help first hand with others. Because of service learning, I am more aware of my strengths and weaknesses.