Helping Out the Homeless
On Thursday December 8th my Dad, Lucia, Lucia’s daughter (Natalie), Raquel and I all left my Dad’s office and headed down to Preble Street (Lucia and Raquel work at TD bank with my dad). Once we got to Preble Street we went into the back of a building. We walked in and got straight to work. We immediately took our coats off, put on our aprons, and signed in.
The four of us headed over to the head cook and she gave us jobs. Raquel and I started by grabbing chairs and putting them at tables. We also put salt and pepper shakers on each table. Once we were finished with that Raquel, Natalie, and I were assigned to cut one pound of cheese into tiny pieces. It took us forever because there was so much cheese. My dad was assigned to prepare fresh cole slaw and Lucia helped with the dishes, trays, and silverware.
After a whole hour of preparing cheese the head cook assigned us stations. I was assigned whip cream and desserts with a nice lady named Nancy. My dad passed out the cole slaw, Natalie and Raquel worked the main course, and Lucia worked her way around the kitchen helping out whoever needed help.
When the doors flew open about 300 hundred homeless people came rushing in. From the elderly to teenagers. They started to get silverware and trays. Then they started with getting the desserts. There was about 20 trays of desserts. From cookies, cakes, to cinnamon rolls, to pastries. What ever was donated went to good use.
It was crazy! Every five minutes Nancy and I would have to switch out the tray of desserts to the next tray. We went through five cans of whip cream and we filled two full sized trays of shredded cheese (before everyone had gone through both trays of cheese were finished). There was also hot dogs, cole slaw, and black berries. We did this for two hours and thirty minutes. It was a long crazy process but in the end I am happy I volunteered. Some people were very thankful for us serving them. I heard “Thank you” from almost every person. One person even came up to my Dad after he finished eating and told my Dad how much he enjoyed the coleslaw. Seeing all the eyes light up as I piled on desserts and whip cream made my day.
When everyone had left and it was just me and the other volunteers we were instantly given new jobs. I was assigned organizing silverware for the dinner crowd, my Dad was assigned cleaning up the counter, Natalie and Raquel were assigned to sweep and wipe down the tables, and Lucia was working her way around the kitchen helping everyone.
Once we left we walked away from the building and there were people there getting ready for the Food Pantry. Volunteering was a great experience and I would definitely help out again. If you ever want to volunteer you should consider helping out at the Preble Street Soup Kitchen.
The person on the far left in the picture is Lucia, I am next to Lucia, Raquel is wearing the hat, Natalie is on the far right, and my Dad is standing behind us.
