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This week, I had the distinct pleasure of accompanying seven 8th graders to a soup kitchen in our fair city. Our school sends a group of 8th graders on the first Monday of each month to the Willa Gill Center, and my sister and I volunteered on the same day, so we could share in the experience together with our daughters. Though I just referred to it as a soup kitchen, the facility where we helped out provides assistance to homeless and low-income families in a number of ways, just one of which is serving a full-blown meal to as many as 500 men, women and children per day. It is regularly staffed by anywhere from a dozen to 40 or 50 volunteers, and there are only one or two folks one might loosely consider to be actual paid employees. It is a truly charitable endeavor, primarily staffed and run by two inner city churches and their congregations. Our church regularly sends volunteers, and since our school is essentially a part of the church, it was only natural that the kids get involved, as well.

I have blogged numerous times in the past (see others here, here, and here) about taking my Girl Scouts on various charitable excursions and other trips. I find that this trip has me pondering the experience long after we have returned home - - for several reasons, I suppose.

• First, our school's kids, though many come from families of some wealth, seemed to lack the sense of entitlement that I am continually flabbergasted by in today's society. The students had a genuine sense of empathy (not to be confused with pity) for the people visiting the center for a meal that day. The kids served with a smile in the following ways:
  • Helping single parents with small children to their tables
  • Handing out silverware/trays to the visitors
  • Offering the variety of fruits, vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy, breads, desserts and drinks that could accompany the incredibly delicious (I'm not kidding - - it was outstanding!) baked chicken
  • Bussing tables
• Second, it really gave (and gives) me pause to see the number of adults who couldn't afford to feed their young children. Some were obviously homeless, but with others, it was more difficult to tell (see below). We all know that once the kids are in school, they will get a meal at lunchtime, whether they can afford to pay or not. However, I had rarely stopped to consider the littlest ones who are eating real food but who aren't yet old enough to be in school. If there's not enough money to buy food, they will simply go hungry without a program like this.
• Third, with only the most rare exception (and these due mostly to apparent mental instability), the folks receiving the hot lunches were as gracious as they could possibly be. They were respectful, patient (even when having to wait up to 10 minutes for a fresh batch of chicken when they had finally reached the front of the line) and thankful.

In my next post, I will tell you about the one slightly disappointing/disturbing aspect of our trip but how overall, the experience was really rather transformational.