Community Service 4/26 and 5/10

For my Community Service I went to a soup kitchen in Chicago called A Just Harvest. We left from school at 2:30 and arrived downtown around 3:45. We had arrived there early the first time so we stopped and ate nearby.This was my first time going to a soup kitchen and I didn't really know what to expect. I had heard a lot of good things about it though so I wasn't very nervous. I thought it was going to be filled with just homeless people and families but later I learned how off I was with my pre-judgment. When we finally arrived it wasn't what I expected it to be. There was a line of people outside waiting for the doors to open and many greeted us when we walked in. Once we were inside the place looked nothing like I thought it would. I'm not really sure how to describe it; maybe like a run down but not so run down restaurant. When we finally walked to the back we put on name tags, robes, and hairnets. Definitely not what I expected again. Once we were all bundled up and ready to go we met with the main coordinator. She talked to us and explained to us about the people that were coming in to these kitchens. I learned that most of them weren't homeless actually but had used up all their money on bills and now could not afford necessities, like food. After she finished talking to us, she had given us our first task: Go and talk to three people and learn something about them. I was immediately out of my comfort zone and not only I but all of us were uncomfortable with it. We didn't know what to do. We all looked confused and awkward. But we got over it and eventually we were all laughing and talking with these people and realized we had nothing to be nervous about. They were very happy and friendly and willing to share stories with us. Finally, they opened the kitchen and we were all assigned certain jobs to do. We have waiters, bus boys, and people serving the food. I went with a great group of people the first and second time we worked like champions and I had a great time doing it to. Time flew by! When they closed the kitchen at 6:30 we weren't finished yet, we had new jobs of cleaning up, but even when we did that we all worked really hard and finished in no time. Overall, I had an amazing experience with this and I am really glad I did it twice. I'm considering going back again because I loved it so much. People should really do it more often because the feeling you have afterwards is one that will last a lifetime.