Community Engagement
Hello Visitor, I will be talking about my experiences of volunteering for Feed My Starving Children (FMSC), making sandwiches for the homeless, Cradles to Crayons, and Greater Chicago Food Depositories from the medium of the class I'm taking currently called Global Paz; and how it connects to Sarvodaya and Swadeshi.
For Feed My Starving Children it wasn't difficult, but it was assembly line like work which can be very draining for the mind and body. But learning at the end that we made at least 300+ boxes of food was very fulfilling to hear. My role was to seal all of the packaged food that was inside with a machine and then hand it off to the person who's filling the boxes. I think this connects to Sarvodaya because it supports people from across the world who don’t have access to food. Which uplifts them since they have an organization/source to rely on for food which is an essential common need for everyone. Another reason for it connecting to Sarvodaya is because the organization uses renewable resources in order to make the food formula; which is an agricultural, self-sustaining resource that was promoted in the principles of Sarvodaya.
As a school we made sandwiches for the homeless for an hour. We did this by first coloring/designing the bags that the food was going to be in so it doesn't look soulless, then getting all of the meat, bread, and condiments on the tables; and finally making the sandwiches. Lastly we got snacks for them that included a fruit and a bag of chips. This wasn't draining at all to me personally since the amount of work was very minimal compared to my first volunteering experience. It connects to Sarvodaya because this is also fulfilling a need/help that the local community of Chicago needs that follows the principles of Sarvodaya directly since one of the principles are making sure your needs are fulfilled locally.
The third volunteering experience was Cradles to Crayons. Again as a school we went to Cradles to Crayons which is an organization that gives clothes and school supplies to kids in the city that are in need of it. We colored and made notes for the kids that are receiving the clothes/ school supplies, and organized and quality checked the clothes to the correct bins. This connects to Sarvodaya because it helps out the foundation of society. Also this type of work goes against the -isms since they are getting the most value out of clothes which goes against consumerism that capitalism heavily relies on.
For my final volunteering experience of this term we went to the Greater Chicago Food Depository as a class. My role was a mix of packing oranges and picking up 35-40 pound boxes so I can refill tables who's sole job are packing oranges. This connects to Sarvodaya because like the other ones we're fulfilling needs that should be met by local members in the community that helps all parts of Chicago.
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