Friday, March 13, 2009

BrittanyRothausen

Brittany Rothausen

Homeless Service Reflection 5
March 11, 2009 – Day 5

Today was our final day of volunteering. This time the entire group worked at the Nashville Rescue Mission again. Overall today’s experience was much more positive than Monday’s. We broke off into several smaller groups with some people teaching, some working in the kitchen, and the rest doing various jobs in the basement. I was one of many who worked in the basement, which I dreaded. The last time I worked in the basement, all we did was sort toiletries. There wasn’t much of a system or any organization so it felt like we weren’t accomplishing anything. Today we sorted through a lot of canned foods and got to see their pantry, which I was surprised to see was very organized. Since providing food is one of the primary functions of the mission, it was nice to be able to do something related to that. We sorted and folded bed linens the rest of the day, which wasn’t the most interesting task, but important none the less. As always, there was a particular group who tried to avoid work at all costs and seem to be on the trip for the wrong reasons, but the majority of the people here have worked hard and really do want to make a difference.

After we were all done working, the staff of the rescue mission had a special dinner for us to thank us for volunteering. I almost cried when we walked into the room and saw all the food they had made and all the effort they had put into doing something special for us.
There have been a lot of frustrations over the course of this trip, but as I reflect on the last few days, I realize that the experience was entirely worth it. I’ve met a lot of new people that I probably never would have in my normal life at Concord and I’ve gained a new appreciation for how fortunate I am. I was initially somewhat nervous about coming on this trip because I’ve never volunteered in this capacity before, but I’m so glad I did.

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