Food for Thought

For my second set of volunteer hours, Gabe and I went to a local food bank located in Newark, California. After school, Gabe and I drove to Newark which seemed pretty far. It was located by the Newark fire department building, clearly in the cuts. I've never heard of this place before but from what I saw it seemed like a pretty low-income area. After finally getting there, the food bank was a small, one story building that seemed pretty old. We parked our cars at the end of a court and walked inside. Inside, the whole place was full of canned foods and clothes stored in plastic and paper bags. There were a few women packing food and working on things behind counters. We walked in and was greeted by a very friendly woman. She directed us to the back where she told us what to do. Gabe and I taped and bagged beans that were getting ready for people to take. After doing that for awhile, there were people coming in picking up food. Gabe and I helped hand out bags of food to those people. They seemed very greatful and happy to be receiving food from us. When we were all done giving food to those people, the woman in charge told Gabe and I to drive over to a different warehouse full of food. Since Gabe and I weren't that familiar with Newark, we got lost and took awhile to get there. We had to get there under a short amount of time since the food bank was closing. Finally after finding the warehouse, we went inside and took bags of rice to bring over to the food bank. There were probably about 10 large bags of rice. In addition to the rice we were bringing, we also brought dozens of boxes to give to the food bank since that is what the canned goods are given to people in. There was the cutest couple working the warehouse! They kept on bickering at eachother like the cutest old couple ever. It warmed my heart. So after loading Gabe's pick up truck, we drove back to the food bank and delivered all the goods. This cute little Mexican man helped us bring everything in. When all the rice and boxes were put in the back room, we helped this little lady pack her car with clothes.

Overall I think this was a good learning experience. I wasn't aware that Newark had their own food bank, teaching me that Newark is also a very poverous area. I felt kind of uncomfortable since I've never done this volunteer work before and I was unfamiliar with these people. But the women working there seemed very friendly and eager to let us volunteer. I think that everybody should volunteer at least once in a food bank in their lifetime since it shows them how much people value food and how difficult the economy is right now on people. It's also an eye opener since these people live so close to you. In Fremont, you aren't really aware of poverty since a majority of people you go to school with or see are in middle class. This made me very greatful for living in a household that is easily able to provide food on the table.