Harvesters

After arriving at Harvesters, I was placed in the food sorting group. We took a tour of the facility then we were taken to a huge room where we were told how to sort food. My group had to go through large cardboard boxes filled with food and separate to food into specific bins such as, dry meals, condiments, glass containers, cleaning products, and protein. While it was fun trying to see how many objects I could find that belonged in the same bin and carry them all at once, the work sometimes crossed over to the gross side. Occasionally, we would come across mold or maggots because something had broken open. Can you say DISGUISTING?! The second half of the day, after eating delicious pizza, was more tedious. Groups were split again, and I went with a group to wash ceilings, walls, and floors in the freezers. One thing I know for sure is the freezers were definitely working that day. Brrrrrr!
My expectations of Harvesters was somewhat met and yet, exceeded at the same time. I was expecting it to be a boring day that seemed to drag on because we were going to be doing loads of work. Pretty much, I thought it was going to be like doing chores back at home. To be honest, there was tons of work to be done. In fact, there was so much work that even after working extremely hard all day it almost felt like we didn’t get anything accomplished. When I left the sorting room, I looked back and still saw rows of boxes that needed to be sorted. Harvesters exceeded my expectations, however, because I never thought I would have as much fun as I did; nor did I think I would meet as many other students as I got to.
I learned so much at Harvesters, and no, I’m not talking about how to sort food and clean walls. I learned that the majority of people who come into Harvesters are actually NOT homeless. Most people who come in actually have a home to live in and a car to drive. I was also surprised by a small fact that was so obvious yet somehow, I seemed to overlook it. Did you know that the students on the reduced or free meal plans at school usually don’t have food for meals on the weekend? Or that in most cases, they are home alone while their parents are at work so they are left to cook for themselves? Well, I did, but for some reason, I had never actually thought about it or realized the problem that created. Fortunately, someone at Harvesters did so; they deliver backpacks with enough food for the weekend in them and the kids pick them up at school. Because the students are better fed and feel like they have something to look forward to, they actually want to go to school.
Harvesters taught me that with a little help from the community, large amounts of people can be helped. Just our freshmen class at Avila University, filled three large bins with food donations and that was just from almost everyone bringing ONE food item to donate. I also learned that, even though it didn’t feel like much got accomplished, every little bit really does count. That’s why it’s so important that Avila continues this tradition. Community service doesn’t always have to seem like work. In fact, once you actually start to help out it doesn’t. I could see myself returning to Harvesters ready to help!