Grade 10 Service

Soup Kitchen

Service- Soup Kitchen

A service highlight for me this year was my trip to the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver to help out with the soup kitchen, We served many homeless people and learned a lot about the less fortunate lifestyle. It was a life changing experience and I encourage all students to participate in the next soup kitchen put on by Collingwood.

Choice 1- Camp Counsellor

Another highlight in service for me this year is attending Grade 6 camp along with a few of my pears as a camp counsellor. I enjoyed getting to know the grade 6’s, hiking in the deep forest and learning about sustainability and leadership. Camp is a great way to meet people and try things you have never done such as polar dipping. It allows you to escape the outside world and do things you never imagined doing before. 

Service Reflection:  Soup Kitchen: 

Becoming involved in the Round Square Soup Kitchen was one of the most impactful and rewarding things I have ever done in my entire life.  As we gathered as a group I had no idea what to expect or how I would change as a result of what I was going to see.  The bus ride over seemed to take an eternity with all of us chatting about regular school life, sports, and our busy lives.  It wasn’t until we arrived at the Church that I realized the full impact of what was going to happen.  Prepping for the meals gave us a chance to decompress and become emotionally prepared for the day.  We heard stories (from the regular servers) about the guys that visit regularly, and the people that have vanished.  Mostly we heard about the horrors of drug abuse, poverty, crime and life on the street and the memory of the stories is still fresh in my mind.  When the people started to pour in the front door, my pulse quickened and my stress level went through the roof.  I felt so scared of these people, and what they were capable of, and for the first time ever I felt truly vulnerable and embarrassed of all the   excess in my life.  As we started to serve them I quickly lost all the fear I was harboring and I started to converse with them to learn about what happened to them.  I quickly learned that although there are exceptions, for the most part these people were good people that made bad choices.  It almost seemed to me that they were searching for ways to escape their terrible ordeal, but the irreversible damage as a result of the drug abuse was holding them back.    I found it quite amusing that despite their circumstances, many of the people actually complained about the quality of the food and in particular the cookies!  I had to laugh at this as it supported the argument that even our “Vancouver street people” are a bit spoiled, as they were able to upgrade their “cookies” by complaining endlessly.  I saw one man who really looked sad as you could tell that he was once a normal athletic guy who for some reason got involved in the wrong crowd or with the wrong people.  I spoke to him   as he ate his food and he told me to stay in school and to not compromise my life by taking drugs.  I felt that this brief interaction was a moment that I will always remember as it came from a person who truly regretted messing up his life.  I plan to stay involved in the soup kitchen as often as possible as it is a good way to double check that I am not becoming a spoiled little brat, and that I don’t take my very fortunate life for granted.  I recommend this experience to everyone as I truly believe it changes us for the better and makes us better people.  Without participation in organizations like the soup kitchen it is easy to get caught up in the WV bubble and to forget about what really matters in life.