“You must be the change you want to see in the world.” –Mahatma Ghandi. People look at the world today and see the horrible things that are happening with our economy. Many people are losing their jobs and can’t afford to feed themselves and their family. And most families are using either food stamps or going to food pantries to feed their families. And although many people know the hard times that many are facing, not a lot of people are reaching out to help.
I and I am one of the many who have been reaching out to those people without food for over four years, even before the economy was difficult. I help out at our local food pantry, Pennridge F.I.S.H. Food Pantry. There I do many different things to get the food out to those who need it.
One of the main things I do is help collect and store the food. Every month the postal service goes around on their daily routes and picks up bags of food that people have donated by leaving at their mailbox. The postal workers deliver the food to F.I.S.H. were I help unload, weigh, and store it.
Then every first Sunday of the month is when the families come to collect their food. I often help out then by going around with the person and gathering the food items that they are allowed to take with them, depending on the size of their family, and bagging it for them to take home. I and other volunteering teens carry the food to their cars and then return to our work.
Then there are the holidays. At Thanksgiving I go in and help bag the food that all the families will be having for their Thanksgiving meal. We pre-bag the food and then distribute it on a later date. Then for Christmas we give out the food for the families Christmas meals and also help them get gifts for their children and family members. On a second floor of the building, there are donated toys, clothes, books, and other items similar to that for the families to have.
The local food pantry that I help out gives food to over 230 families. And although we get the monthly donations of food, the shelves run out of food fast and by the end of the month there is barely anything left at all.
As Mahatma Ghandi said, we need to be the change in the world. I love reaching out and helping others through Pennridge F.I.S.H. And I know that every time I help out, I am truly changing the lives of those people who receive the food we distribute. And helping others has to be, in my opinion, the best way to make a change in the world.