Volunteer Work

I'm not usually a shy person, in fact I find it hard to shut my mouth around most people. This week was a bit different; I served some volunteer hours at the local food pantry. The people that enter this food pantry were entitled to an allotted amount of food, this food allotment varied by family size. The family sizes that can be served ranged from 1-2 person familes, up to 12+ sized families. The food in the pantry was the generals of life: cereals, soups, fruits, vegetables. I volunteered my time here because it put me outside of my comfort zone, these people were strangers, but strangers in situations not unlike my own. They were low income families, just trying to make ends meet. I'm in the same situation, I recently moved into an appartment with my friend and my girlfriend. They both have jobs, and lucky me, I recently got laid off. I know the "list" very well, because I hear it once a month, every month as I go in for .my. food allotment. I can list the categories that I listed off: Fruits/juice, vegetables, beans, tuna, spaghetti sauce, pasta, side dish, mac & cheese, meat, cereal, soup, hygiene products, extra products. Honestly I was nervous to be volunteering there, what if I saw a friend of mine? What would they think? What would they think I thought? The identities of the clientele is confidential, I can't even mention it to them later face to face off the pantry premises. I must admit, there are those that I favored if they came to my workstation, instead of four cans of soup I gave them five. There were some people who had children with them, I gave them an extra box of pop-tarts, maybe something sweet for the kid. I didn't feel sorry for them really, I just identified with them, because I have been on their side of the counter before. I'll confess that some of these people were downright mean, picky, crude. To them I say that sometimes, you have to settle for something, you won't always get name brand. Out of the volunteer work I've done, (highway clean-up, community garden work, local rec-center work) I think my time at the pantry was best spent. No matter how hurried they were, or how embarrassed they were, they always gave a thank you, and maybe the best part about it was that these 'thanks you's were actually sincere. It's times like these that I'm glad to help people, help the ones that deserve it, the ones that need it, and not just those that want it.