Thursday, March 28, 2013

28 March: Christ House, Meeting with Emily Hogin, and D.C. Central Kitchen

Today was an extremely tiring yet satisfying day. We started the day off at Christ House, which is an organization that provides medical care, healthcare, and housing services for individuals who are experiencing homeless. My volunteer work at that organization involved mainly packing and unpacking food. We also managed to meet a bunch of wonderful people including Hollywood who works in the kitchen and Bob who happens to have also worked at the White House through his own catering company. Serving the people there was a great experience, though later on in the day I began realizing how significant our contributions really were.

            After our service at Christ House, we met with Senator Al Franken’s assistant who deals with Housing and health care services: Emily Hogin. Our meeting was not what I expected especially since it seemed like she was not prepared for the visit. Though we ended up standing outside of her office, I still noticed that we managed to make an impact by drawing her attention to the problem of homelessness. Even though there are acts being put into place to help students who are at risk for homelessness, I still believe there is a lot we can do to continue drawing attention to this issue, which includes writing to our representative and having talks with our friends and family. Overall, meeting Al Franken’s assistant really shows the importance of talking with those who represent us in legislature in order to show them that issues such as homelessness are significant and deserve proper consideration.

            Finally, we ended our service at D.C. Central Kitchen, which serves up to 5,000 individuals who are low income and may be experiencing homelessness. Our work there was especially energizing because our group drive and energy was especially inspiring. It was also really amazing to learn that the food we made also goes to the places we have served throughout the trip such as Rachael’s Woman Center and Christ House. Serving with a group of wonderful, inspiring people has also made service a worthwhile and fun endeavor. Regardless of what happens in the future, I feel like I definitely hope to continue servicing and advocating with and for individuals who are experiencing homelessness. This experience, again, has been really life-changing, and I hope to bring all that I have learned back to campus and the greater Twin Cities Area.

 

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