At least twenty-four percent of Atlanta’s population is under the poverty line (US Census Bureau). With so many in need, community service is necessary. In September 2009, I volunteered with the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) to work in the Trinity Church Soup Kitchen. When using the MARTA system in Atlanta to get to the Soup Kitchen destination, I passed by homeless people on the streets begging for food. A homeless man came up to the AMSA group, repeatedly asking what we were doing with bread in our hands. We told him that the bread would be used in the Soup Kitchen, and that he was invited to come. After being threatened several times, the AMSA group fled to nearby McDonald’s, where we saw a man buying a McDonald’s breakfast biscuit for an elderly woman in rags on the street.
When arriving at Trinity Church and seeing the poverty-stricken people take their soup and sandwiches, I personally felt more aware of society and received an indescribable emotional experience. Helping others have a warm meal was wonderful yet saddening. When a pregnant woman came in with her three-year-old child, my heart went out to her. I hoped that she and her family’s life could change and that her children could live a successful life. All of the volunteers stated that this was a wonderful opportunity that opened up the volunteers’ minds and also help people receive a meal that they would not have had otherwise. At the end of the day, the volunteers prayed for the people that came in for a meal that day to change their lives around and find a job to support themselves. The experience was more than food. It was a time for the volunteers to realize how fortunate they were and to help the poor turn their lives around. Enacting in community service strengthens the community as a whole—poor or rich.
Works Cited
US Census Bureau. 4 Sept 2009. US Census Bureau. 5 Oct 2009.
"Soup Kitchen Logo." Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild. 5 Oct 2009.
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