Community Service Reflection

Community Service Reflection

The thought of community service to me was something that seemed pointless. I saw it as almost a waste a time because you don't earn money, its hard work, and with so much poverty in the world I didn't feel like I could make much of an impact. I tried to find the easiest thing to do at first just to get it done. I signed up for a place called Sacred Heart Community Service since it was one of the most well-known and reviewed places. I went to Sacred Heart for my first day of orientation. I was really impressed with the presentation one of the staff gave us. I found out how many people the company had helped and heard some inspiring stories. The founder of Sacred Heart Community Services was Louise Benson. She started the company in 1964 to feed hungry families in her neighborhood. They help families in every way possible to have better lives. They told us about how they help people find jobs, provide schooling for children, give out food, clothing and even help pay bills. Their purpose was to help build a community free from poverty by creating hope, opportunity and action. They empower people to improve their lives, advocate for justice, and inspire volunteers to love, serve, and share. They help accomplish this by not only giving out food and clothing but they try to get petitions signed to benefit the people. They are currently working on one for San Jose to get the minimum wage raised to ten dollars. This way people will get more money and be able to support themselves better.

In my experience with company I had a wide range of jobs I could choose from. There were jobs such as helping people find jobs, working in the food kitchen, tutoring kids, providing clothing and many others. I worked in the food kitchen and with providing clothing. It was a lot of work there were hundreds of people coming in each day. My responsibility in the kitchen was to provide people with food, pack it into grocery bags and help bring it out to their car. The people were provided with can goods, rice, fruits, and drinks. I had found out many of these goods would come from grocery stores. The stores would get rid of the food because it was expired and they could not sell it. It really didn't not matter to these people, each person I helped out seemed so grateful for what they received. It really made me think about my life and how much I would complain even though it was so much better. I would always be picky about food that was expired and I would never eat leftovers. I would just throw out food items that were past the expiration date and never think that other people less fortunate than myself would be happy to have them. I didn't care at first because I never had to be around poor people but once you see how much they appreciate any kind of food they receive, it changes your perspective. The second job I had was working in their "Clothes Closet." I was shown how to sort and organize the clothes so the people could easily find their size. I would also sort through the donated clothing and choose the best items for re-use. The place was set up like a store with shopping racks and clothes hanging on the walls. It was a good idea so the customer feels like their shopping instead of just digging through a pile of used clothes. I liked it because it reminded me of my job from JCPenney, except the people seemed more respectful about keeping the place clean.