First Day (Number 2)

My life has been completely altered by this experience. When I first came in I knew little to nothing about food banks and especially the good work that Second Harvest was doing. I knew little about the people that live here and I really didn't understand the need that some people were in. I know, thanks to this experience, have a better grasp on the organization and the role that it plays in society and this experience and organization have encouraged me to help others and to volunteer and get others to volunteer and help out the community as well.

I learned a lot throughout my volunteer experience I learned the most from and about my volunteer place on the first day. I learned how to sort things; what to look out for, what’s a good container, etc. I also learned more about how much business actually volunteer and help out the community. I learned to be grateful for everything that God has given me by the people that come to get food and by the people that work at Second Harvest. I learned the most my first day so I’ll tell you about it.

It was Friday night at 6 p.m. and no BHP meeting, so my classmate and I, Emanuel, decided to get a jump on our project at went to volunteer. It was my first time volunteering for my project, but not my first time at Second Harvest Food Bank. Last year I had been here before to paint barrels red for the organization with BHP, but this time would be different I actually had to be cognitively aware of what I was doing so I could remember it for my project. It wasn't too hot or too cold outside when I went outside earlier so I left my jacket. As I walk into the building I realized that I need to sign in and grab a name tag; which I thought was weird in the first place, because why do you need a name tag to volunteer, but I dismissed the thought and proceeded to wait in the front office along with 50 other people until we were told what to do and where to go. In the waiting room I notice a picture of a map that displays all the areas that the Second Harvest Food Bank covers, it’s quite a lot. They serve a total of 19 counties - 14 counties in North Carolina and 5 counties in South Carolina. When I saw this it blew my mind, why and how were they serving so many people and if they covering this much space what are the other organizations doing; this was before I entered the warehouse though.

This volunteering day would be different than the days to come because it was one of the times where I didn't sort food in the first room I saw; which later would became the room I worked in most, because it host the most volunteers. My first day I was told to go work in the back of many rooms to "sort through hygiene products", as was repeatedly said by Ms. Conny, along with about 15 other people. As we were walking past the first room and other aisles in the warehouse I was able to get a good feel on how big the warehouse actually was and it’s huge. Try to imagine a Walmart store but with more stuff in it, because they use all of their space efficiently and stack the sorting palates and the only space that is left open is the space for volunteers and for people to move around in with the forklifts and on feet (that’s also why their expanding because they’ve grown so much and are running out of room, but I’ll talk about that later). The day started off weird, because I was going into a situation where I had no idea what I was going to be doing. Like usual before you are able to dive into the sorting you have to go through an orientation and during the orientation I realized that we would be sorting boxes that the organization received from various companies, mostly Walmart. As I sorted with the others I began to ask myself questions that pertained to one of the questions I was going to write about in my project. So subsequently I asked someone who I was sorting with and even asked myself; why are you volunteering? My immediate response was simple of course but some of the other whom I had asked in the group were different. One man who I volunteered with said he was coming for his company duties, another said that they liked to volunteer and give back to the community, and I asked someone else and she said that she was volunteering for her high school, so right then I realized not everyone has the same somewhat selfish reasons for volunteering, like I did. Some people did, but some just came there to give back to the community. It didn’t take long for time to go by, because my first session wasn’t bad at all, it was only two hours. At that moment in time though I thought two hours of working for free was a lot, but boy was I just getting started and had no idea how long really 40 hours is.

The first day of sorting food was rough too and I learned then too. As we began to sort the food into the appropriate crates not a lot of side conversation were going on, because unlike most days this group that I was working with today didn’t have any groups so the only talking done was about which product goes in which crate. As we worked Anthony made all of the new labels for the new empty barrels he brought in, took out filled barrels on pallets with the jacks they had, helping to tell us what stuff goes where; he was doing a lot and he was by himself in the front room. It was real hectic to me because I never have had to deal with things coming by you and you moving around with a lot of commotion in the background while volunteering before. I even messed up sometimes and put something into the big barrels that was supposed to go onto the conveyor belt. I later learned how to work a palate jack, how a compactor is used, and how a food bank operates in general.

This experience had changed the way I view society in a positive way. It taught me that not everyone thinks that if your poor your lazy, and that actually want to see the world become a better place. Me volunteering here also helped me, because I didn’t know of any organization that helped out the community as much as Second Harvest, so it encourages me to do the same and help out the community too.