Food Banks

Another great way to serve is through local food banks.

(picture from http://www.acfb.org/more-ways-participate)

An example of one of these places is Feed the Hungry Atlanta. Earlier today, I thought of a story. I thought of a real life adventure that changed my life forever. I decided to share it with you today.

The first time I went to a place like this was many years ago. I was with my old girl scout troop, and our wonderful troop leaders took us here. To tell you the truth, I was dreading it. The last thing I wanted to do on my Friday afternoon was go to some food sorting place. When we arrived at Feed the Hungry, I was discouraged further by the appearance of the building. It looked like a giant garage, complete with a rusty old metal roll up door. No way was I spending my day in there! Our group continued inside, and it even looked like a garage from the inside. The crude cement flooring and raw walls were the key elements that I still remember to this day. All the girls in my troop and I gave a friendly man the food donations we were required to bring, and he gave us all plastic gloves and ushered us to an empty assembly line. He told each of us to pick a station. The stations were positioned along the sides of the empty metal conveyor belt, and the options were things like canned soups, canned vegetables and fruits, precooked meats, rice, beans, and more. I picked canned vegetables, but I also helped my friend with the fully cooked bacon. The hours seemed to drag by slowly, until I realized how it was actually kinda fun. I began to gain confidence, and eventually, my friend on the bacon got tired and sat down. I told her I would cover her shift for her, on one condition. She would have to open the big brown boxes full of cans and bacon for me, and keep a pile of bacon and cans ready for me to pick up and use. She agreed immediately, and I am not sure if the assembly line picked up speed or I just had more on my plate then I could handle, but I began to almost not keep up. I worked super hard and got it all done, and by the time it was time to go, I was laughing hysterically and my face was as red as a tomato. I believe our troop had packaged over 100 boxes by the time we were done, and from then on, I loved food bank work. Since then, I have volunteered at multiple food communities including Feed the Hungry, the Atlanta Community Food Bank, and a few more that I don't remember the name of at the moment. Service has changed my life forever, and this experience is one that I will treasure forever and will never forget. Ever.

Here is some information on the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

www.acfb.org and here is their facts page: http://www.acfb.org/facts-stats