Spelman College’s motto, A Choice to Change the World, mirrors my goal as a member of this intellectual community. During my first year at this institution, I dedicated myself to several hours of community service. I found that this was a vital part of my intellectual growth as both a student and person within society. This year I volunteered for several nonprofit organizations, however I dedicated most of my time to the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Before volunteering for this organization I was not quite sure how I would be able to make a significant difference in my community.
However, when I volunteered for this organization, I was able to tremendously help people in Atlanta. Likewise, this experience opened my eyes to the increasing hunger problem in Georgia, especially in the metro Atlanta area. Thus, by volunteering for the Atlanta Community Food Bank, I was able to decrease the amount of hunger people in Georgia. The mission of the Atlanta Community Food Bank is to combat hunger in the Atlanta by engaging and educating the community. The food bank utilizes several methods of reaching the community.
They have seven programs that simultaneously educate the community about the hunger problem in Georgia, and they also make sure that people throughout Atlanta are being fed. These seven programs include Atlanta Prosperity Campaign, Atlanta’s Table, Community Gardens, Hunger 101, Hunger Walk/Run, Kids In Need and Product Rescue Center. I had the opportunity to participate in two of their programs, which were the Hunger 101 program and the Product Rescue Center. I was first introduced to this organization by volunteering for their Hunger 101 program. This program was very enlightening, and it inspired me to make a difference in my community.
This program entailed an interactive group session that educated the volunteers about the hunger problem in Georgia. The volunteers participated in a workshop where we were given the role of being a less fortunate person for a day. We were given this person’s income, how many people lived their house, and all the expenses that they had to pay for. We had to use those values to calculate how much money that person has to spend on food per day. I discovered that most of these people had no more than three dollars to spend on food for their whole family in one day.
At the end of this workshop, we discovered that the person we were given is an actual person that the Atlanta Community Food Bank serves. Before this workshop, I never imagined that there were so many families in Georgia living off of less than three dollars per day for food. This experience opened my eyes to the harsh reality of the hunger problem in Georgia, and it is now my mission to combat this hunger. The overall purpose of the Hunger 101 program and the Atlanta Community Food Bank was to convey the realities of the hunger in Georgia and to inspire the volunteers to become a part of the solution.
This is exactly what this program did, because I reevaluated how | could help my community. Thus, I decided to go back to the Atlanta Community Food Bank. This time I volunteered in their Product Rescue Center. With this experience I believe that I was able to reach my community directly by providing them with healthy and fresh food. When I revisited the Atlanta Community Food Bank, my mission was to reach my community first hand. Thus, I decided to volunteer in the Product Rescue Center. The goal of this program is to sort and ship healthy and fresh food.
The Atlanta Community Food Bank get this food from various food stores like Walmart and Kroger. The food items that I sorted were citrus fruits and carrots. I had to ensure that the fruits were fresh and did not have any moles. Once these fruits were sorted, they were put into boxes and later shipped to various places within the community. These places include churches, soup kitchen, and other places that people within the community could go to get food. This experience allowed me to help people within my community in the most altruistic way.
Hence, from volunteering at the Atlanta Community Food Bank, I learned the importance of not taking what I have for granted. Also, I learned that it is important to never waste food or ot her precious items, because there are people out there that are in dire need of these necessities. Additionally, I experienced that social change occurs, when people make the effort to become the solution to a specific problem. Any gesture to change a social problem could tremendously help people in need. Social change can only occur if people are willing to put forth effort in making a difference in the world.
For example, Bill Bolling, the founder of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, envisioned a world with less people without food, thus he pursued his goal of eliminating hunger in Georgia by creating this organization. He brought about a social change by taking a chance, and he was able to create this non-profit organization that helps to feed people throughout Georgia. The people that are being fed from this organization include children, the unemployed, the homeless, people who suffer from disabilities, low-income families, and the list goes on.
This is only a small representation of the amount of people that this organization helps to feed every day, and it was all because Bill Bolling’s altruism. Furthermore, the Atlanta Community Food Bank undoubtedly helps to feed many people throughout the state of Georgia. However, if I was directing this agency, I would expand this agency. I believe that this organization should not only feed people within Georgia but all over the United States. The hunger problem in the United States is on a much greater scale, and I believe that this organization would be able to thrive on a national level. This would overall help to decrease hunger in the ation as a whole, which would affect more people throughout the United States.
Other than this factor, I believe that the Atlanta Community Food Bank is a stellar organization that directly targets the needs of the community. Volunteering at the Atlanta Community Food Bank was an enlightening experience that gave me the opportunity to help various people throughout my community. As a member of this community, I ensured that through my philanthropyl helped people of all ages. Overall, my goal is to help as much people in my community as possible and volunteering for the Atlanta Community Food Bank made this goal attainable.
