On Saturday, my fellow classmate, Lily Schroeder, and I went downtown to serve a "thanksgiving dinner" to many homeless people and families who do not get to enjoy a thanksgiving meal on the actual day. Each year, my mom, along with Lily's mom and other members of our temple, organize this day at the Bethlehem Healing Temple on the west side of Chicago. We set up many tables with a whole bunch of decorations and serve food to around 400 people. There are always a lot of clothing items and shoes for the people to take, as well. Aside from the thanksgiving meal, once a month members from my temple make sandwiches and bring them downtown to hand out to people in need. As Mr. Bolos talked about in his
blog post, we are only helping these people a few days out of a 365 day year...so are we really making that big of a difference? In my opinion, we are making a difference, but definitely not a life changing one. Each year, we make this a special day for these people and give them a meal that they seem to really enjoy, but I realize that at the same time, what many of these people really need is an education, a job and a warm place to sleep. Giving these people food is only a band-aid, not a permanent gesture that will help support them for the rest of their lives.
Before we started serving, a bunch of the volunteers sat in on a service that was going on in the temple. The people in the temple seemed so thankful that we had come, which really struck me. It made me think about how much I take for granted eating three good meals every day and going to a restaurant without thinking twice about it. Each year I go downtown thinking that I'm going to make some big difference, but this year it just made me wonder what I could do that would have more of a lasting impact. The kids need good education and the adults need jobs, but what can we do to make these things happen?
Once a year, maybe twice a year, I visit a soup kitchen similar to the one you have visited. It is a great feeling to help feed hundreds of people and even better that you are interacting with them. However, I agree with Lily that although for one meal I am helping these people, I am not leaving a lasting impact on them that betters their future. Recently, I have joined a youth group called Student Alliance for the Homeless Youth (SAHY) that provides homeless children with with school supplies and helps to raise money for scholarships. This experience not only is very rewarding, similar to feeding at soup kitchens, but it also provides more of a lasting impact on these children because we provide them with books and supplies that can help them in the future.
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