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Final Integration: Community Service Project

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Final Integration Paper
Based on my community service project and my participation in this particular class, I feel that I have a better understanding of my social responsibility. Although I have volunteered on several occasions, it was not until I served at the local food bank, that I have a better understanding. I feel as though I have an obligation to serve my community because after all, homelessness can happen to anyone at any part of their lives. Volunteering at the local food bank, gave me a better understanding of peoples struggles and also helped me to not be too quick to judge when it comes to seeing people live out on the streets. I no longer have the mindset that people living out on the streets chose that life nor are they drug/alcohol …show more content…

As I write this portion of my essay, I cannot help but mention a father whom I had the pleasure of meeting. His name is Fernando and at one point in his life, he lived in an up-scaled part of Covina, with his wife and son. He owned and operated his own company, and things for his family were great. Fast forward a few years later and Fernando lost his business, went through a divorce and was on the verge of losing custody of his only son. He told me, no matter what it took; he was not going to lose his son. He and his wife went through a rough divorce and eventually he won custody of his son. He won custody but it was not at a cheap price. Because of all of the court fees and attorney fees, this is what eventually led him to homelessness. He was now living out of his vehicle. When talking to him, he was a regular, normal hard working individual, whom I would have never guessed was homeless. His story really hit me when he told me that although he was going through tough times, he was not going to let his son suffer. He slept in his car time and time again, but got up every morning to shower, look presentable and went to pick up his son to take him to school. I thought to myself, what an incredible person, to make such sacrifices in order to make sure his son’s life was not affected in a negative way. I also learned while …show more content…

Another individual whom I had the pleasure of meeting was Juliann. She is the main person in charge of running the show. She is the one that showed me the ins and out of how this place worked. And once she did I was able to jump right in and help out. I never knew just how much hard work goes into feeding the community. I started off by dividing up the food that came off the delivery trucks, I then went to scan the food to make sure the food was fresh and able to be handed out to the families. After that we would package the foods for the Tuesday pick-ups. Each Tuesday, the families would line up and we would give them bags of groceries that would hopefully last them a few weeks. The faces on these families were priceless; the look they gave was one that was unforgettable. You can truly tell that they really appreciate everything that was offered to them. Once the Tuesday pickups were completed, we would then store all of the left-over food and plan for the next trucks deliveries. While completing this process, I often found myself asking, “Why aren’t we able to serve more food, nor are we able to allow more families to come and gather food?” It was not until Juliann explained to me that all of the food they receive are either left overs, food that has lost its shelf life at local grocery stores and other donations that the local stores may drop off. So in essence, if the

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