Make A Difference Day!

Only 21 Days of AmeriCorps VISTA Service left and this does not count weekends and to be honest I am kind of starting to freak out a little as to where I will be going next. But I know something will open up and everything will be OK. All else fails I will enjoy the holidays and seek for work after the first of the year so I guess it's not so bad.

October 23rd was National Make A Difference Day which meant it was one of those days that all National Service Volunteers such as VISTA's or AmeriCorps State members have to do some kind of direct community service for the day. It is always great to be able to do direct service and get in there and help the community directly and I always get a big kick out of these service project days. VISTA members are limited on how much direct service they can do so when it is a National day of service such as Make a Difference Day we get to go out into the community and do some hands on stuff.

For my Make A Difference Day project I volunteered the day at the Lighthouse Food Pantry. This was a great opportunity to help out the food pantry and the local community. I helped people shop at the Choice Pantry picking out the food they were allowed to have and helping them load up their groceries in bags. This was really great because this food pantry is only a few blocks from my house and I have gone there for food before so this was a great chance to give back.

The Lighthouse is what is considered a “Choice Pantry” meaning people get to pick what they want from the different categories of food. Each person is given a color coded card for their household size and they go through the shelves of food which is color coded according to each food group. The person then gets to choose the food that they want which I think gives them a sense of control over what they get from the food pantry. Some food pantries just give you a box of food and say there you go and you really have no idea what is in the bag until you get it home. Choice pantries give people the right to choose what they get and it educates them on proper nutrition. Some people have food restrictions and cannot eat just anything so the choice pantry let’s them pick out what they want and sometimes they will hold back food for people with special diets. This is what makes a Choice pantry so fantastic and the Lighthouse is filled with so many compassionate people who really seem to care about the people they serve. Even going out of their way to talk with people who are there giving them a hug and let them know that the Lighthouse cares about them.

It is never any fun going to a food pantry for food but when you do have to go to one it is nice to feel welcome and not just another number and I think the Lighthouse really goes out of their way to make sure everyone feels welcome there.

This is the front of the Lighthouse Church located at 626 Ridgelawn Avenue Hamilton Ohio 45013

This is just the beginning of the line as I first got to the church this line ended up wrapping around the building!

This fuzzy picture is of one of the people who volunteered at the Lighthouse that day sorry my camera took fuzzy pictures my camera wasn't the best but hey what can you expect from a $15 digital camera from Krogers?

 For Christmas I am hoping Santa brings me a nice new digital camera :)