Saturday, November 17, 2007

Twelve senior highs at church at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning? Impossible you say? NOT!

Many thanks to the dozen youth and 4 advisors who volunteered at the NC Food Bank in Durham on 11/17. We had a good time and learned a bit about what hungry folks in our community go through. First, we took part in a simulation game--6 characters, 6 small budgets, lots of tough decisions to make. Do we buy food...or medicine this month? Should we walk to work so we can have a little more in our bellies? What if your family could only afford "real" foods--no cookies, candy, or chips? Most of us don't have to make these decisions, but it was eye-opening to see how people who are "nutritionally uncertain" get by week by week.

After a snack, we got to work cleaning and restocking shelves with food donated by others. We learned that peanut butter is one of the "hot items" at the Food Bank--it's a popular and relatively inexpensive source of protein. We also saw that a LOT of macaroni and cheese gets donated. We filled a HUGE box with canned goods...we're talking HUGE! And Nora learned first-hand why they ask people NOT to donate food in glass jars.

After our 3-hour shift, we went home knowing we had made a difference, and we took away a bunch of empty boxes for our own CPC food drive. Way to go, y'all!