Our Daily Bread

Community service, in my opinion is an experience that everyone should at some point in their lives partake in. The lessons a person can take from these types of experiences are those that cannot be taught in a classroom. Every time I have volunteered somewhere, I left with a new sense of appreciation for life and increased my desire to help people, animals, or nature in any way possible. In order to fully take advantage of the ideals of a Jesuit education, I volunteered at Our Daily Bread. The lessons gained from community service are priceless and some of the most meaningful information and feelings you will ever learn.
Our Daily Bread was an amazing experience. It is different from many other soup kitchens in that the people do not stand in a line and serve themselves as they would in a buffet type setting. Rather, they sat down at tables, every few tables making up a section. The volunteers were assigned to sections and everyone had different jobs. There were helpers to hand out the bread, take orders (whether they wanted the vegetarian or other meal), hand out the meal, clean up when they were done, and to reset the area for a new person to come. Everyone that interacted with the people that came were asked to address them by calling them “ma’am” or “sir”.
At Our Daily Bread, I learned many lessons, some of which were hard to accept. I used to be ignorant in the fact that I thought the people who went to soup kitchens were all homeless and many of them had some sort of addiction. I know now, however, that those assumptions were wrong and extremely critical of me. Initially, it surprised me to hear that most of the people that went there had somewhere to live. But then, I thought about it and realized that at the end of the month, when rent is due, it makes sense that people could be a little short on money.
The people that affected me the most seeing there were families and those with mental illnesses. To see a young child or a baby there was particularly upsetting to me. I felt guilty having the luxuries that I do, when these infants did not even have a guaranteed meal everyday. It is horrible to see first hand someone so young possibly having their only real meal of the day at a soup kitchen. It was interesting to me to hear from the people that worked in the family section that many parents would not let their child take a free book. That, to me, shows that these people keep their dignity and do not want to have to live off of charity all the time. It must be incredibly hard for the parents to not be able to provide their own kids with a meal. In addition to the families that came, to see people with mental illnesses there effected me incredibly. Knowing that many people with diseases that not much can be done about living on the streets is extremely sad and it is disturbing to witness this downfall in our society. Before hearing this from the lady in charge at Our Daily Bread, it was hard to acknowledge and truly comprehend that not everyone with emotional troubles has a support system like the one many others are provided by their family. Working there with these people just made the experience that much more meaningful and worthwhile to me.
Volunteering at Our Daily Bread was a life enhancing event for me. The way it was set up to make you really interact with the people was amazing and I feel like it really made the atmosphere much more pleasant for both the workers and the customers. It must have been nice for the customers to be waited on and respected. I am sure by the way the acted towards us that they really appreciated everything they got. I also thought it was great how all of the volunteers had to call the people who came in “sir” and “miss”. Our Daily Bread is an amazing place for both the people who come in to eat, as well as the people who go there to help. The overall mood of the place is one that is appreciated by everyone who walks through those doors.