This year I also started volunteering regularly (another part of the turning 30 and doing more meaningful things with my life). I joined Greater DC Cares, which disseminates volunteers to places that need them. I started off trying out a few different types of volunteer work including sending books to prisoners, packing food for the terminally ill, yard work and feeding the homeless.
I finally settled on volunteering with a program called Loaves and Fishes, which operates out of a church in Northwest DC. Even though it’s a little out of the way for me (I have to switch trains), I like how it’s on a weekend and not super early in the morning and I guess I like that they know me there now and I get friendly hugs when I arrive. I know exactly what to do when I get there and there’s always lots to do once service begins, from plating to serving to clean-up. The kitchen and dining room get loud and exciting and I can’t explain why I find it all fun but I do!
All the food is made from scratch at the kitchen and served until every bit is gone. At the end of it all, a few hundred hungry people are sent off with full bellies and sometimes a bag of seconds. And I don’t think they’re the only ones getting immediate gratification from the service every weekend.
