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**