Service Learning Reflections

As I am now done with my required service learning for this class, I feel that this is an appropriate time to wrap-up this up. Going into my service learning at the Fish Food Bank, I didn't know what to expect. After all, Fish Food Bank aims to feed over 230,000 Pierce County residents in need, and the community service I have done previously never involved spending time at a food bank, let alone in a diverse city like Tacoma. To be honest, I was more than a little nervous going into it. All in all though, I would say that it was a positive, new experience because it taught me a lot during the somewhat limited hours I spent there. Although I mainly helped sort donations and count up the totals, I was able to get to know some of the other volunteers well as a result of this. All the volunteers had their own story to tell; some chose to be there and some were there to fulfill some needed community service hours. Some had been doing this type of volunteer work their whole life, and for some like me, this was their first food bank experience. Seeing how many people needed the assistance of the food bank really opened my eyes to the existence of poverty and hunger that is prevalent in even our local society. There is something about putting in the time to help others that is really rewarding, and that's why I'd like to keep volunteering my time to help these people out. It's definitely an issue that needs to be brought to the open because I think that most people are probably just like I was before; not necessarily uncaring but just not aware. I think we should do what we can to help the less fortunate; at least that's my plan for now.