Category Archives: Service Activity

Volunteering at Lowcountry Food Bank!

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In the beginning of March (Saturday March 2nd), I spent my morning volunteering with the College’s Center for Civic Engagement. From 8:30am-12:30pm, I worked helped at the Lowcountry Food Bank in North Charleston!

I have volunteered here one other time before, but this time I was helping with the CSFP, which stands for Commodity Supplemental Food Program. Myself, along with our CCE leaders, Makaila Davis and Susannah McFaul, and a few other students helped pack boxes for food insecure senior citizens in need!

When we arrived at the warehouse, we first were introduced to the other groups we would be working with for the day. We got placed with a local high school from the area, as well as a few other couples. We then got a quick tour of the workshop and assembly line. The manager explained that we should spread out and be stationed at different spots in order for everything to flow more smoothly. Thus, we had people at the front – this is where they would assemble the boxes – then in the middle – this is where we would place items such as, rice, beans, canned tomatoes, applesauce, juice, and other non-perishables in the boxes – and then at the end – this is where the boxes would be tapped and closed up for transport to their location. There were also people needed to collect the excess packaging that came off of the items were placing in the boxes we were giving away. For example, we went through soooo much cardboard and plastic that day, because the food items came in these huge pallets, and we all went through at least two of them (and they were all taller than me!). Therefore, people were needed on the other side to take these parts and break them down and put them in the recycling pile. I was in the middle section, helping to put rice and beans into the boxes.

We packaged boxes for about three hours and the production moved smoothly for the most part. Communication was significant to the process, because if someone needed to take a break or was falling behind, they could ask someone to step in to their place. I had to switch places a few times and go to a few different stations because it just worked out that that was where I was most needed. It was truly a “go with the flow” type of job, but at the same time, we all accomplished so much!

We ended up packing up about 800 boxes I think! This was a fun experience, because I got to meet fellow students and others from our community, who all wanted to help out others. While we did make an impact in the world of hunger in the Charleston community, part of me did feel as if all the waste that was involved in the process was almost counterintuitive in a way. For example, even though we were sending all the food off to be eaten (and not wasted), all the plastic that came from the packaging seemed so wasteful in a way. This showed how everything is connected and in a way, always comes back around, and must be thought of in a fully sustainable way.

Volunteering at One80 Place!

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A couple of weeks ago, I volunteered at a local homeless shelter called One80 Place. This particular location offers food and shelter to those in need, as its staff and volunteers work hard each day to become one step closer to ending both homelessness and hunger in the Charleston area.

I signed up for my volunteer slot just two days prior to when I had the free time and wished to go, however I know most of the slots for volunteering fill up very fast! There are availabilities to volunteer all throughout the day(  breakfast, lunch and dinner), everyday! Help is always needed and appreciated. I chose to work a dinner session on a Monday evening (6-8pm).

Upon arrival, I was given a nametag and apron. I was shown around the kitchen area by one of the head of staff members. I was soon joined by three other volunteers; they were all much older than me, as they were all out of college and I was simply a “freshman at CofC” (my response when they asked “what do you do?”) This was the first difference I noticed in the experience, simply within the first few minutes of the task.

After becoming familiar with who I would be working with, we organized our meals for the evening. We would be serving chicken from Leon’s and salad from Kitchen 208! It kind of blew my mind a little bit when she told me this, because it made me happy to think that sort of what we would think to be “high-class” restaurants that are downtown like this, would be willing to recycle and make enough of their food to donate to those in need. It was refreshing to hear that this food would not be going to waste and those in need would no go hunger, and that I would get to be apart of it all.

We formed an assembly line between the four of us volunteers and we were each assigned a specific food group to serve. I was in charge of the desserts (which made it even easier to interact with those making their choices, because I mean, who doesn’t LOVE dessert??)

Soon individuals and full families began making their way through the line, filling their trays as high as they could go. While I understood this was the second difference in the experience, both physically, as I was on one side of the food and they were on the other, as well as financially, it was both a rewarding and both discouraging experience. Rewarding, because I got to speak to some many interesting people and hear about their stories. For example, one man asked us if he too, could come back and volunteer to serve food with us one day. He told us that he used to be in the restaurant business for twenty-years. Discouraging, because I learned that unless people truly take the time to either partake in experiences like this one or stop to talk to individuals on the street curb, they might have a misconception of how homeless people in general. I learned that we as a society need to do a better job of thinking of ways to live more sustainably and less greedy, so less people have to suffer from homelessness and hunger in the long run.

Overall, the experience opened my eyes and made me want to be more self-aware with my both my food and financial choices, and help those out in need when I can.

One80 Place is located on Walnut Street downtown and is very accessible for those that wish to get involved and volunteer!

 

**Also, I have no photos from this experience because we were not allowed to have our phones out at all, as it was a sensitive environment**

oh kale yeah

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I recently participated in CofC’s Day of Service, which was hosted by multiple departments on campus, including the Center for Civic Engagement and the Sustainability Literacy Institute. For the first hour and a half of the event, there was an educational component where we were taught about all things sustainability related, but mainly focused on social justice and fair distribution. The purpose of this orientation was so that in our service projects we would be able to tie what we were doing to this year’s theme of social justice and fair distribution. After we all fully understood the extent of the issues, we had lunch and then the group parted ways to our separate service projects. I participated with the Green Heart Project, but there were others including Habitat for Humanity, Keep Charleston Beautiful, Meals on Wheels, and Fisher House. I highly recommend this event as it was a lot of fun and a great way to network (and you get free lunch which is always a plus)! The College’s Day of Service relates to our class because Environmental and Sustainability Studies is interdisciplinary, with that we have to understand the social aspect of the environmental problems we are trying to resolve. Most of these “wicked problems” deal with social justice and fair distribution. Social justice referring to the fair distribution of wealth and opportunities within a community. Through the Sustainability Literacy Institute, we become educated on the social issues that are affecting everyone in the community and in turn we learn how to improve our community.

 

After volunteering for the afternoon with the Green Heart Project and learning what they stand for and strive to do, I decided to reach out and become a volunteer. On a weekly basis, I walk to Mitchell Elementary School and help tend to the community garden that is located there as part of the “Crop Mob”. If you like to garden, then I definitely recommend reaching out! Even if you don’t like to garden it is still a great way to give back to the community. Activities range from pulling weeds, to turning compost, to constructing garden beds, to painting garden signs, and to harvesting plants. These things might not sound too appealing, but when you’re stressed or having a bad day and you get to go to this garden and see all the hard work that has been put into it, you realize that there’s more to life than school, work, and taxes. And when you do volunteer, you get to take home some of the crops! Through this experience I have learned all the cliché lessons that it feels like I continuously relearn: don’t take things for granted, treat others as you wish to be treated, be respectful, teamwork makes the dream work, etc. You get the idea. But for the kids who get to go outside and learn about things in that garden and learn all of those valuable lessons, it sets them up for success that they might otherwise not believe that they will have. In the world we live in, it’s easy to get bogged down by all the negative things we see in the media and on the news, but it’s always nice to have a refresher of something that is truly good and helpful for so many young children and their families. 🙂

CofC Day of Service

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On Saturday, February 23rd, I volunteered with the College of Charleston’s Second Annual Day of Service sponsored by the Center for Civic Engagement and the Sustainability Literacy Institute (SLI). The day of service focused on the 2018-2019 QEP focus, “Social Justice and Fair Distribution”, and placed volunteers with various organizations in the Charleston area.

The day started off with a workshop on sustainability and social justice. In the workshop, staff from the SLI educated volunteers on the triple bottom line and urged us to look for connections to the three pillars throughout our volunteer experience. I chose to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity’s Charleston chapter. I and the other volunteers worked on constructing the wall frames for what will someday be a lower-income family’s home.

Habitat for Humanity’s mission hits all three aspects of the triple bottom line. When building homes, Habitat uses repurposed materials to save costs as well as reducing waste. Habitat for Humanity also operates thrift stores called ReStores which are a point of intervention in the linear economy, they are donation-based and staffed by volunteers. These stores sell scrap building materials, furniture, etc that can all be repurposed or reused by buyers. Restores are also a means for potential Habitat homeowners to earn the “sweat equity” needed to pay off their homes.

Sweat equity is a concept that ensures homeowners invest back into their community through service at the ReStore or by helping to build others’ homes. I found this concept very interesting, especially with the theme of fair distribution. Volunteers with Habitat are able to donate their hours to pay for the sweat equity of homeowners who may have other obligations such as working multiple jobs or caring for their families. I would like to see what could happen  with the concept of sweat equity in other areas such as schoolwork. While I know that students can’t do work for each other, there are opportunities that some students miss out on due to work or other excluding factors. It would be interesting to see if there was a way to donate opportunities or time to others who weren’t able to gain the same experiences.