Volunteering at Gleaners!

The past weekend was cold and snowy and I didn't feel like doing anything until I got a call from one of my friends who asked if I wanted to go and give some blankets, canned food and drinks that we had collected a while ago and some Peanut butter & Jelly sandwiches that the temple had made to the Gleaners' community over at Downtown Detroit. I was obviously more than happy to do it!
So we got into his Chevy Traverse and drove in the cold and snow. After we reached there, we were helped by some of the staff and other volunteers unload all the stuff. There was a lot of stuff but we all got together and got everything out. Once that was done, we were supposed to separate perishables and non-perishables and stock them before they were given out so that they didn't go bad. So we started doing that, made necessary signs to indicate what needed to go where and then filled up the huge cartons with all the collected stuff.
Once all the stocking was done, we just cleared up the rest of the area so that the huge boxes when required to be brought out have enough room to be moved about. So we just aligned everything to one side of the walls, cleaned up and marked all the entries. By this time we were tired and hungry, so we took a few minutes break, drank some water and got back to work.
Now we were just supposed to give out the sandwiches we had prepared. One of the associates at the community helped us organize the whole thing and we gave out individually wrapped PB&J sandwiches to everyone. Little kids were so happy that it almost brought a tear to my eye to think we waste so much food everyday and complain about how somethings are not as tasty as we would want them to be; and here I see little kids be happy with one sandwich. Made me count my blessings and vow that I would continue to volunteer and try to make a difference to the community in whichever little way it is possible from my side. We got done with giving out food and drinks, thanked Gleaners' for the opportunity and headed back home. All in all, I had a very tiring day but I felt more satisfied than tired because it gave me such a huge feeling of doing something good for the community. I hope to spread the word so that more people can join hands to try and bring about a little change from their side in whatever little way possible.