This blog represents the collaborative efforts of a writing professor and his students at the University of Denver, as they reflect on their experiences reading, thinking, and writing about HIV/AIDS, service-learning, and the public good.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Service-Learning Reflections
Please post your servive-learning reflections here as a comment. Thanks!
On Monday, Jen, MaryKate and I went to Project Angel Heart to work our kitchen shift. We met in the lobby of Halls a little before four, and took the bus to Colorado and 41st Street. Then we walked through some warehouse type buildings and ended up at a building with blue awnings and Project Angel Heart vans parked outside. We went in and met with Anne, the volunteer resources coordinator.
Anne said that instead of helping in the kitchen, we would begin by preparing bags for volunteers helping with Dine out for Life. We went into the project room and began putting the bags together. Each bag had pens, envelopes, brochures about Project Angel Heart, business cards, and fliers about Dine out for Life. These bags will be given to volunteers who will then visit various restaurants around Denver and ask them to participate in Dine out for Life. The restaurants that participate will, on April 30, donate twenty five percent of their profit to Project Angel Heart, and will also allow representatives from the organization to be in the restaurant that night to raise awareness and spread the word about the program.
After we finished stuffing bags, we went into the kitchen and helped Summer package desserts for the meals. One of the deserts was sweet potato pie filling with graham cracker crumbles on top, and the other was sugared pears with the same topping. When we had finished assembling and packaging the desserts, we all helped sweep the floor, and then walked back to the bus stop and returned to campus.
Even though the work we did was mostly just assembling and packaging things, I had fun working with Jen and MaryKate. We talked about school, our hobbies, and future plans. We also talked to the other volunteers working in the kitchen, one of whom was working his second shift ever, and another who was working his last. It was interesting to hear what types of things the older volunteer had learned while working there. He talked about things like how to scoop soup the best way so that everyone gets a good mixture of broth and vegetables, etc. Even though we didn’t discuss anything of particular significance, I think the fact that we all were working towards a common goal, to help those in need, brought us together.
While I was working at Project Angel Heart, I was comparing the work I was doing currently to other volunteer work I have done, especially in foreign countries. And, although I couldn’t identify any particular reason, I realized that I greatly prefer the types of volunteer work I have done in other countries to that which I have done in the United States. It may be because traveling outside the country is more exciting than traveling a few miles away from home. Or maybe it is because I feel that people in foreign countries need my help more, as they are lacking good programs like Project Angel Heart. But this realization made me think about my motives for volunteering; do I do it because I want to help people, or because it makes me feel good? And do my motives matter?
I came to the conclusion that my motives are multifaceted. I want to help people, and thus enjoy volunteering. So I choose to volunteer both for myself and for others. And I enjoy traveling, so I like to volunteer in different countries. But I also feel drawn to international work because I feel that people in impoverished countries are not given the opportunities that we are in the United States, and I would like to make more opportunities available to them. International work feels more urgent to me, because while ill people in the United States may not be able to cook for themselves and may need assistance, if they were not being treated for their illness in the first place, as is the case in many third world countries, they may not even be alive to eat. And so, it seems to me, the problem that should be addressed first is to make sure people worldwide are getting the help that they need in order to survive.
Volunteering at Project Angel Heart did not only make me feel good for helping others, it also gave me time to reflect. As is often the case, the work that I did to help others was as beneficial to me as it was to those I was helping. I gained a deeper understanding, not only of the suffering that exists in this world and the efforts that need to be made to end it, but also of myself.
I'm not sure if we're supposed to post two separate ones for food prep and delivery, so I just put them both together on one post.
When we first set out on our delivery route, I did not know what to expect. Stephanie, Zach and I were given a list of a few addresses to deliver to, some with very specific directions on how to knock on their door, call up to their apartment, etc. It was somewhat nerve-racking when we had to deliver to the first person on the list. Stephanie and I entered the apartment complex and rang up to the man’s apartment. The directions told us exactly what to do, all the way down to entering the elevator and going up one floor. The elevator itself added to the nerves of the atmosphere; it was very small and covered in mirrors, and gave the entire situation a weird and almost comical attitude about it. We approached his door, and knocked, only after realizing that he had placed a small sign asking people not to knock, rather to ring a doorbell. Anyhow, he came to the door in pajamas, very friendly, and even wished us a happy Easter. It was a good start to our route that day.
The second woman was also very sweet; she came outside to greet us. It was depressing, in a way, that all the company she has is her dogs and the few minutes spent by the Project Angel Heart volunteers each week that come by to deliver her food. She was waiting at the door for us to arrive and wanted to make conversation, but there wasn’t much to say. She seemed happy, but I got the feeling that her life was rather lonely and this was the only interaction she got on a regular basis with other people.
Another delivery we did was to this one woman, Olivia. It was her birthday, and Project Angel Heart sends out birthday cakes to each of their customers on their birthday. So we got the pleasure of delivering a cake to this woman. Unfortunately, see didn’t seem to be all there mentally, because when we wished her a happy birthday, she simply repeated what we had said back to us. She didn’t even realize it was her own birthday. It was sad, that there was no one there to celebrate her birthday with her, but it was rewarding nonetheless to bring some joy to her day.
Our final delivery was a little out of the ordinary as well. We entered the apartment complex expecting to follow the directions on how to buzz the apartment, when we find a note from the person we are delivering to. He asked us to go around to the back door and knock on the window…we weren’t sure what to think of this, besides finding it kind of comical and awkward, but we did it anyway. We then were unsure of which window to knock on, so we just stood by the door until he saw us through the window and came out to greet us. He was also very friendly and wished us a happy Easter.
The people we encountered were not what I expected. I suppose the first man was typical of what is expected when delivering to people with life-threatening illnesses, and Olivia, the woman with the birthday had an oxygen tank. But overall, it was different than what I expected. I had expected the people to be cold, and look very sickly, just take the food and not speak to us and shut the door. But they were instead very welcoming and friendly, I suppose because they have gotten used to the idea of Project Angel Heart delivering their meals to them each week. They weren’t embarrassed about it, nor were they secretive or mean. It was an interesting experience, not necessarily life-changing, but I am glad I had a chance to do something like this and help out people who cannot help themselves.
Preparing food for Project Angel Heart was, in essence, exactly what I had expected it to be. We scooped, sealed, and stacked various foods in plastic containers and stored them in the freezer for later delivery. Having volunteered in a food pantry type kitchen before, it was not all that interesting of an experience. The first thing we prepared was an, to put it nicely, interesting looking orange soup. Four tubs later, we got to switch over to preparing desserts, which was bread pudding and chocolate sauce. We worked in an assembly line type of fashion, two people scooping, one adding the sauce, and I sealed and stacked each dessert into the crates. It was tedious work, but working together we got it done fairly quickly. We also cut and wrapped pumpkin bread as well as chocolate cake, which was also an assembly line style preparation. Cutting, laying down the plastic wrap, cutting the plastic wrap, then covering the cake actually took up a lot of time. We also cleaned all the surfaces and mopped when we were finished, which I was not expecting.
We did have some bonding with the head chef that day, when she taught us how to flip things in a skillet. She taught us with pepper, and explained how to move the pan just so to make it flip. It’s an impressive move, and even though we weren’t very good at it, it was nice to be treated as equals rather than just a group of kids required to volunteer.
Without doing the delivery as well, the food preparation shift wasn’t really that rewarding of an experience. I didn’t necessarily feel as if I was helping out, it was just tedious preparation work. But I do understand that it is something that has to get done so these people can receive their meals for the week. Once we actually delivered this food to the people, I felt more accomplished about it, knowing that not only did I get to hand these people their food for the week, but I also helped create it. Perhaps if we had done a morning shift, in which we actually assist in the cooking of the food rather than just the rationing of it, I would have enjoyed it more. The overall experience was great, getting to know my classmates as well as do good for people with life-threatening illnesses. It was just not something I realized was rewarding at the time, only after.
Delivery Shift Matt, Sean, and I met down in the Halls lobby around 12:15 and headed out for our Saturday, April 4th delivery shift. We picked Kelly up at the corner of High and Evans, and we made it to Project Angel Heart, making only one wrong turn along the way. We entered through the front door and were welcomed by our classmates just getting ready to head out for their afternoon delivery shift. We then met with one of the volunteers, signed some paperwork, and received our instructions, route, and meals to deliver. The map gave us some trouble, as we were unsure of which way to go on 70 at first and there was an extraneous dot on the map pointing out a house that we did not have a delivery for. After clearing up these minor issues, we did two deliveries in Montabello (Peoria exit off 70 east) to three different people. The first delivery was at an off-white townhouse on Elk street. We delivered meals to two different people at this house. An African American boy came to the door to get the delivery and grabbed it from us without ever speaking a word. He never even said thank you. The second delivery was at a 3 story beige house with orange trim on Freeport. At this house, an African American man answered the door and he seemed genuinely gracious for the meals. He said thank you and an older lady inside also yelled thank you to us. Since we had a short route, it only took us about two and a half hours total, and after finishing our deliveries we headed back to the dorms.
Overall I enjoyed my kitchen shift more than doing deliveries, though it was not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon. One thing that especially bothered me was the fact that the boy at the first house did not say thank you or even acknowledge us. I think what bothers me so much about this is not necessarily that he was rude to us, but his rudeness showed how little he appreciated what the staff at Project Angel Heart does. Volunteers and workers spend hours cooking, preparing, packaging, and delivering meals, not to mention all the behind the scenes work that goes into running a non-profit organization. Growing up, I was taught that when people do you a favor, no matter how small, you are grateful for it and try to return the favor, if not to the same person then to another person in need. My mom, one of the most generous people I know, used to always tell me, “We are very fortunate, and it is our responsibility to share our good fortune with others.” I guess I was just expecting a response more in line with what we received at the second house. Nonetheless, the people at Project Angel Heart save lives every day, so it was satisfying to be able to help these people out.
Kitchen Shift To be completely honest, I was kind of dreading doing my kitchen shift last Wednesday. I was tired and stressed about the upcoming organic chemistry midterm. However, my perspective quickly changed, and I ended up having a great time. Kelsey, Matt, and I met in Halls lobby and made it to Project Angel Heart right on time despite the rush hour traffic. We walked into the kitchen, unsure of how to proceed. We introduced ourselves to Summer, the chef, and she gave us instructions to put on aprons, wash our hands, and start ladling out soup. We had a fun time picking out our aprons (there were so many choices) and the three of us and another volunteer got to work scooping soup into cups and putting lids on the cups. We did this for almost 2 hours, at which time we finished the soup and began tearing apart and shredding whole, cooked chickens. The three of us being biology majors, we thoroughly enjoyed this job. We took turns dissecting the chicken, studying its anatomy as we went. I think the other lady working with us thought we were a crazy bunch of science nerds, but there might be some truth to that. Upon completing that task, it was time to clean up. We swept and mopped the floor, said goodbye and thank you to the workers, and finally headed back to the dorms to get some much needed studying done. The shift took just under three hours.
Even though the work was tedious, the time flew by. They had the radio on, so we jammed to some good music and talked while we worked. Summer seemed really cool, and she came over to talk to us a couple times. It was interesting to learn how this job was completely different from anything she had done before. She explained to us how it was tough to stick to the budget while cooking tasty meals for such a vast number of people with different health issues. She told us how the clients often called to give feedback, both positive and negative. She also told us how they sometimes received ridiculous food donations and had to come up with creative recipes. For example, a couple days ago they had received two pounds of chopped carrots and dates mixed together, and they were still trying to figure out what to do with it. The volunteers working that night were all very friendly and nice to us, making the kitchen shift enjoyable.
The more I learn and experience about Project Angel Heart, the more I like the organization. Their history is intriguing, especially how when they were short on funds they had to cut back and focus strictly on people living with AIDS. To me, this would be an extremely difficult thing to do, knowing that there were people in need being left behind and there was nothing that could be done to help them. I was happy to learn that the organization no longer has this problem, as they have expanded their client group and are even in the process of building a new location. I have never done service for an organization like this before, and based upon the few hours I have spent at Project Angel Heart, I am looking forward to learning more through the oral history projects.
I did my delivery shift with Matt, Sean and Cayla. We drove to Project Angel Heart and when we got there we had to sign some forms, mostly agreeing to keep the clients’ information private. Then Kris, one of the workers in charge of organizing the delivery shifts, assigned our deliveries, of which we only had two. We headed east on I-70, towards Montebello, and got off at the Peoria exit. We had some trouble finding the first house, but eventually came to an off-white townhouse on Elk street. The townhouse was in a suburban area and was made of wood and stone. Cayla and I went to the door, and waited on the porch until a young boy came to the door. He seemed accustomed to getting the deliveries, and took the two bags we had for him and went inside. This delivery got two bags, probably because whoever was getting the meals had a child that they were unable to cook for.
Our second delivery was close by, and after driving past a school and a Boy’s and Girl’s Club we came to a three story house with white trim and a two car garage on Freeport Road. There was a black SUV in the driveway, and Cayla went to the door to drop off the bag. A man answered the door, and there was an older woman just inside. They took the bag and thanked her, and then we left and came back to campus.
The delivery shift was quick and not too exciting; most of the time was spent just driving. I was surprised to see that the houses we delivered to were in fairly nice, suburban areas, and were pretty well kept. I don’t know what I had expected, I guess more run-down houses. I also had expected it to be more exciting, I guess because I thought we’d be spending more time with the clients than we did. But it makes sense, these people are used to getting a delivery every week and probably never really spend much time with the volunteers.
The shift made me think again about the reasons that people volunteer, especially because we all noticed that the boy at the first house didn’t thank us for the meals. Does everyone who works at Project Angel Heart expect to be thanked for what they do? And if we were the ones getting the meals every week would we thank the people who made the deliveries, or would it become so routine that thanks would seem unnecessary? I don’t really think it matters either way, but the experience made me think, like I did after my kitchen shift, about how everyone who volunteers has some kind of selfish motive in addition to the desire to do good.
My kitchen shift turned out to be a lot different than I expected. Upon seeing the building, it surprised me that it was a warehouse-like structure. I suppose I was expecting some sort of cozy building that welcomed volunteers. When I first walked into Project Angel Heart, the first thing that I distinctly noticed was the vast array of office cubicles in the entryway. The idea that there was a lot of office work in the non-profit shouldn’t have taken me by surprise but it did. When we walked in, the only person that I could hear was a woman on the phone. She seemed to be discussing some logistics about volunteering. The one statement that stood out was that “We’re trying to make Tuesday night kid’s night.” We worked our way through the maze of cubicles until we reached a back office, one that actually had a door. The woman there told us that we should check in with another woman—the woman who happened to be on the phone. Finally, she took us back to the kitchen area.
When I walked into the kitchen, I was surprised at how barren it was. I had expected more decorations, more of a welcoming feeling. It looked like the kitchen of a restaurant. In fact, the entire time that I was there I couldn’t help but compare it to my experience working at Noodles and Company for two years. The only decorative structure was on the ceiling which displayed PAH’s mission statement or motto. We were showed to a volunteer break room. The room had more of cozy feeling, with decorations and color on the walls. On one wall, aprons were hung on the rack, in slight disarray. There was a box of bandanas and hats. I placed on an apron and bandana as well as a nametag. Then, we were told to wash our hands. She even told us exactly how to wash our hands—20-30 seconds and don’t forget the fingernails. After washing our hands, we were not allowed to touch any part of our clothes, face, or hair. Yet, they did not require us in any way to where gloves, which seemed odd to me after working in a restaurant. The atmosphere in the kitchen was less friendly than I had imagined. From the video that we watched in class, I had expected more volunteers, laughing and smiling. The environment that we worked in did not start off very welcoming. It was right down to the business of the evening. Summer, the evening sous chef, directed us to a counter in the center, where one of the volunteers was ladling soup into bowls. It was some sort of chorizo soup. The first job that I had was closing the containers that he was ladling soup into. The bowls were apparently very cheap, so they did not close very easily, but I eventually got the hang of it. The volunteer that I worked with was actually very kind. When he filled a bowl with too much soup so that I could not close it, he kindly laughed, called it an operator error, and removed some of the extra soup. When this task was finished, we were told to bring the dishes back to the dishwasher (after clarifying where that was exactly) and to label the stacks of soup.
Next, we began the desserts. We started off with bread pudding, scooping it like ice cream into containers. Then, a ladle of chocolate sauce was added. That was about as simple as it could be. I mainly scooped the bread pudding into containers, while the four of us worked in an assembly-line style. Occasionally, I would jump down to the end and help Leah close the containers and stack them. We did four pans of bread pudding. During this time, another volunteer arrived, beginning to chop onions. Apparently, he always chops onions when he comes. He enjoys having the same job every week. After we were finished, Summer told us to bring the containers, even the one with the extra chocolate sauce to the dishwasher and label the desserts. I was surprised that they simply threw away the extra chocolate sauce; it seemed wasteful.
The final task we were assigned was to wrap pumpkin bread and chocolate cakes. We worked in two teams. I worked with another volunteer (the one who chopped onions). He cut the pumpkin bread into slices while I wrapped them in saran wrap. This was another part where I was surprised that we were not required to wear gloves, when touching the food directly. The pumpkin bread was pretty easy, but the chocolate cake was slightly messier. When I was talking to the volunteer, he asked why we were volunteering. When I explained, he seemed surprised at why we had picked Project Angel Heart. When I was wrapping, I was also surprised at the technique used to cut the saran wrap. They used a knife to cut the saran wrap on the table. In a restaurant, I would consider that unsafe and dangerous. However, to them, it was very practical. Between our two teams, we had to share one saran wrap container, which wasn’t a big problem.
Upon finishing, it was our turn to clean up. One of the volunteers brought us buckets, red and green, and told us to wash with the red first, followed by the green. We had just about finished with the red when Summer appeared saying green first and then red. So we began again with the green. We also wiped down all of the tables that we hadn’t worked on. Then we had to sweep where Summer and the other volunteer had not been able to. By this time, both the volunteers were mopping the kitchen. It was then our turn to help mop. I grabbed a mop and mopped where no one else had yet mopped. However, as I was mopping, I couldn’t help but think at how mopping really doesn’t quite get the floor clean.
At that point, we were done. However, we spoke with Summer for awhile. She taught us something about oil and which oils to use. Then she also showed us how to flip peppercorn in a pan. The other two volunteers had already left. She also asked us a lot of questions about our writing class and why we were volunteering at Project Angel Heart. From this, I was able to relate to her more. I’m wondering if we had had this conversation at the beginning of our shift if I would see the experience differently. After this, we hung up our aprons and removed our bandanas (all the while I’m wondering how many people have worn those). And thus ended our kitchen shift at Project Angel Heart.
The entire shift felt like working in a restaurant again. It was a job to me; it didn’t feel like volunteering. Perhaps it is because I worked in a restaurant, and the tasks we completed are done daily in the restaurant business. However, I didn’t ever get the feeling that we were serving the greater good. I enjoyed what we did, mainly because I was able to talk to other volunteers and other classmates, but beyond that, there was no epiphany. To me, the one shift wasn’t quite enough to get the overall experience. If I volunteered on a regular basis, I feel that I would have a better connection with the work I was doing and who I was doing it for. One night did not give me that feeling. Yet, the experience did teach me something about volunteering. To volunteer, your heart has to be in it. That is what made this experience different from my other volunteer projects. I was volunteering at Project Angel Heart because it was required for class, but the other projects I worked on, I had more at stake—I wanted to make a difference. Had I gone into Project Angel Heart with that attitude, I believe that the experience may have turned out differently. For that reason, I would like to go back and volunteer another time, just to see.
Delivery Shift
The delivery shift began with little excitement. We arrived at Project Angel Heart and had to fill out some paperwork. The paperwork had a confidentiality agreement so as to protect PAH’s clients information. We received our route information. The route had us going to five stops. However, we had a lot of bags to deliver because one house had five bags for five people. The area that we covered was in Denver off of Peoria and I-70. The first thing that I noticed about the route was how specific the directions for delivery were. It not only told you the address, but also a description of the house and how you should knock on the door. It was very user-friendly.
The first house we arrived at, we knocked on the door. A woman opened the door, took our delivery and said thank you. That was all. The second house that we went to, no one answered the door, so we left the food on the porch with a delivery slip. At the third house, a young girl and a woman opened the door and accepted the delivery. The fourth house was the house with the family, and three young boys took the meals and said thank you. It was at the final house that we actually had a conversation. The woman opened the door and remarked on the cold and windy weather. She even made a joke about not wearing a nice hairdo that day. She said thank you and wished us a good day. She also told us to bundle up and keep warm.
For the most part, I couldn’t even tell that the people accepting deliveries were sick. The only one that it was actually visible in was one of the women with an oxygen tube. However, that does not suggest life-threatening illness. If I had gone in not knowing that these people were ill, I wouldn’t have guessed. I also took note that at three of the five stops the people accepting the deliveries were African American. The other woman was white, and the other delivery we left on the porch. This type of experience broke down the stereotypes of “sick” people. It wasn’t just one type of person—some had families, others lived alone, males and females. Though there was a pattern in ethnicity, there seemed a variety of different people and personalities.
Although the experience seemed rather anticlimactic, I was able to relate this experience in some detail to my kitchen shift. The moment occurred was when I peeked into one of the bags we were delivering and noticed a bowl of the soup that I had helped package on Tuesday. For me, that moment exemplified how even though the organization has many different parts, they all come together at the end—when clients receive their meals. Another realization that I had was at the last house when we talked with the woman at the door. I finally understood that these people that receive meals are other human beings. I suppose that I had expected them to be sick, but never imagined that I could have a conversation with them. That last client was just an ordinary person that I could have met on the street.
After the kitchen shift, I felt like that delivery shift should have more meaning, possibly more “feel good” character. Yet, I wasn’t changed by the delivery experience, nor did the actual work affect me in a life-altering way. As I am writing this, the words seem cold-hearted, like I didn’t care about what I was doing. The truth is that my feelings are exactly the opposite. I liked what I was doing, but the deeper meaning didn’t exist. It is unlikely that volunteering at Project Angel heart will be on my list of greatest experiences of my lifetime or experiences that changed my life. However, it did change how I see the organization as a whole and how I perceive these people helped by Project Angel Heart. Yet, the truth is that I haven’t saved the world, nor did I save anyone’s life; I just handed a bag to another person that happened to contain food.
I completed my kitchen shift for Project Angel Heart on Tuesday, March 31. My initial impression of the organization was based on its location in town and the exterior of its building. It was not an area that I would have expected to find a nice kitchen or a non-profit organization. Most of the buildings around Project Angel Heart were warehouses or depots.
The inside of the building was much better. We first went into the office area that had the appearance of a typical office except for the fact that it was cluttered with hand decorated bags that I presume were to be delivered to clients.
I was affronted when many of the Project Angel Heart staff referred to us as “kids.” I know it’s kind of silly but feel that the name “kids” has negative connotations about our ability levels. The few people that were present were nice though.
Our first task was moving bright orange soup from the large containers that it had been stored in to small individual containers for delivery to clients. Our group: Zach, Leah, Kathryn, and me, worked with another volunteer to scoop soup into the containers and then close the lids and stack them. As the chef for the night boasted, the containers cost only 5¢ each and that showed in the quality of the container. They were not the most stable and they were very difficult to close but I suppose they work for their purpose. I was a scooper with the other volunteer, Leah and Kathryn were closers, and Zach stacked the individually packed soup meals. The actual meal that the client was getting varied based on where in the large containers we were getting soup from. Near the top, the soup was mostly broth and near the bottom, it was much heartier with lots of vegetables and meat in each serving.
Our next project was dessert. We used an ice cream scoop to make balls of bread pudding in individual containers then drizzled chocolate sauce on top. The bread pudding varied a lot from tray to tray or even from one part of the tray to another. Parts were over cook while other parts were kind of gooey. Parts had tons of brown sugar while other parts were mostly bread. The bread pudding packaging took much less time than the soup portioning. I was surprised when we finished and were told to take the large, partially full vat of chocolate sauce to the washing area to be disposed of. It seemed wasteful to me.
We then moved on and wrapped pumpkin bread in saran wrap. I had been curious about a bunch of vertical lines that had been etched into most of the steel work tables and when we were wrapping pumpkin I figured out what caused them. We laid out a layer of plastic wrap on the table then placed each piece of bread on the table and cut the plastic wrap in between each piece with a knife. The marks on the tables were spaced with the cuts in the saran wrap. The portion size of the pumpkin bread varied a lot. We were working with another volunteer who had been introduced to us simply as the onion guy. The onion guy was very generous with his portions and some were almost as big as typical loafs of bread.
At one point, a woman came into the kitchen and talked with Summer (the chef) for a while. On her way out, she grabbed a piece of pumpkin bread and said, “I’m famished, I’m stealing one of these.” I don’t know what this woman’s role was with Project Angel Heart, but I was surprised by her callousness and by the fact that she took the food that was meant for clients of the organization.
The last food prep we did was to wrap up pieces of white cake with chocolate frosting. We did it the same as with the pumpkin bread. The frosting from the cake made quite a mess but it went fast because we had a system by that point.
As we were preparing to leave, we started talking with Summer. A few interesting things came up with the conversation. First, Zach went to high school with Summer’s little brother. Second, Summer taught us how to flip food in a frying pan. I really want to try it with food that I’m actually trying to cook and not just peppercorn.
Driving Shift
I helped deliver food on Saturday April 11th and I thought it was a much more interesting experience than the kitchen shift was. I worked with Zach and Leah and we had a route that was near Colorado and Monaco. We had a relatively short route in which we delivered food to six different Project Angel Heart clients. Our first problem was that while Project Angle Heart did give us a map of the locations, it was a very specific map with no major cross streets that we recognized on it. We ended up calling Zach’s mom and having her give us directions to the area so we could figure it out from there. Most of the deliveries that we made stick in my mind for a different reason.
The first one was at an apartment complex. The directions that Project Angel Heart gave us told us to buzz him and the he would let us in then we were to take the elevator to the fourth floor and go to his room. For one, the elevator was very small with mirrors set into wood paneling. It was a very oppressive space. Also, you couldn’t feel when the elevator was moving which was kind of disorienting. We found his door which had a bunch of “God Bless American” stickers, and I missed the “Do not knock” sticker until after I had knocked. The man that answered was small and frail looking and though he was pleasant and said thank you and wished us a happy Easter, it was obvious that he was not comfortable and wanted us to leave so he could retreat back into his apartment. The elevator was worse going down.
The second was a woman living in a very nice home. Unlike the first man, she obviously wanted company. When we pulled into the drive way, she came out and met us. We stood in the drive way for a few minutes before leaving. We talked about the weather and her little dogs which she said she left inside because they would go crazy around us. This client made me sad because she didn’t seem to have the connections to the outside world that she desired. So much so that she sat in a chair watching out her window for the people delivering her meals to arrive.
The next three clients lived next door to each other in a duplex sort of thing. Zach took one of the bags and Leah and I took the other two. The first of the two clients was receiving a birthday cake. Before we left Project Angel Heart they had told us that every client gets a cake during the week of their birthdays. The woman that answered was very frail and on oxygen. Leah handed her the cake and we both said happy birthday. At first, she was confused. She said happy birthday back to us and just nodded along. We told her that it was her birthday and she looked kind of surprised then said that she had forgotten. The second of the clients in the duplexes was very efficient. He took all of the bags quickly, said thank you, and went back inside.
The last client we delivered food to was possibly the most interesting. We arrived at the apartment complex and had the offer to either park in the street or in the McDonald’s parking lot. The directions from Project Angel Heart told us to enter the apartment building and scroll through the list of names to find the client’s and then buzz him. When we entered though, there was a piece of paper taped over the list that read something along the lines of, “Project Angel Heart delivery for 105, please go around to the back door and knock on the window next to the door.” Leah and I went around to the back of the apartment complex but then we felt really awkward knocking on the window. We spent a couple of minutes standing in the back alley laughing about the note before a man peered through the curtains. It was funny seeing his head appear and he just smiled and nodded at us, then he disappeared. He appeared at the door a little while later with no shoes or shirt on.
I think that one of the biggest things that I really got from the day was how wide the client base for Project Angel Heart varies. Some of the people we delivered to, like the woman at the second house, seemed outwardly fine and lived in a nice place. Others, like the first man or the woman with a birthday, we obviously sick and needing help. Some of the people were very comfortable with us, like the woman in the second house or the man at the last apartment. Others didn’t want us around, like the man at the first apartment or the man at the second duplex. The mental, physical, and monetary state of the clients varied a lot.
Driving Shift My first experience with Project Angel Heart was work on a delivery shift. The experience was not as profound as I would have expected. It wasn’t like the movies were someone with a life threatening illness answers the door, tears in their eyes and declares the person delivering the meal a savior. No dramatic music cued as we rolled up to the house to deliver the food, and as they took the food from out hands no profound moment of enlightenment ensued. We delivered a needed service and even though I’m sure they were grateful, the event wasn’t as it is often portrayed. The delivery shift started with our group of four people arriving at Project Angel Heart five minutes late. I was driving and I was surprised to see the location of the headquarters of the organization. The street leading to the headquarters was located right next to a run down liquor store and even though the facility was nice it was situated in a somewhat undesirable area. The person who greeted us seemed not to notice we were late for out delivery shift, which was nice, but she did get right down to business. She brought out several forms for us to sign and look at, detailing legalities of the delivery. I thought it was kind of interesting that one of the activities that was prohibited during the delivery was engaging in any dating relationship of the clients. I’m sure it was directed drivers who were closer to the age of the clients, but I found it interesting nonetheless. Our first delivery was to a to a two story home with a two car garage. I can’t give the address because that was one of the rules we had to sign on the contract. I stayed in the car but two of other people in the car got out to deliver the three food bags that for the clients in the house. There were two clients at the one house but the person who answered the door was neither client. Interestingly enough the person who answered the door did not thank us for what we felt was an important service worthy of a thank you. We left that house and moved on to the final house on our delivery shift. It was another two-story house with orange trim but not two-car garage. There was only one bag to deliver this house so only one person needed to leave the car for the delivery. Once again the person who accepted the delivery was not the client but they did thank us, as did the client who was somewhere else in the house. That ended our shorter than expected delivery shift (only 1 hour long) and we decided it was time to return to DU. I now realize that community service is not about having profound life changing moments for yourself, it’s about helping people. Even though people may not openly show their appreciation it’s important to understand that they do appreciate these services because without them they may not be able to survive. Kitchen Shift I met down in Halls lobby with Cayla and Kelsey at 4:25 on April 15th to go to the kitchen shift at Project Angel Heart. I was slightly apprehensive about my upcoming shift because of what I had heard from others about the kitchen shift. People claimed that the regular workers at project angel heart often treated them like they were children or talked about them being “hung over.” The traffic along Colorado Blvd was pretty bad but we were still able to arrive at Project Angel Heart on time. When we arrived and walked into “Randy’s Kitchen” no one was there to report to. We walked into the kitchen and saw several people cutting carrots and two people stirring a large vat of chocolate. One of the women that was stirring the vat of chocolate came over and greeted and asked us if we were the group from DU. We said we were and another volunteer that wasn’t from DU joined our group to prepare for the kitchen shift. I put my sweatshirt into a locker and grabbed a blue project angel heart apron. I then proceeded to wash my hands in preparation of handling the food. The same woman who had greeted us (I can’t recall her name) assigned us our first task, placing soups from giant plastic bins into small individual paper containers. We introduced ourselves to the lady who was not from DU and found out that she had been volunteering at project angel heart for several months. She had lived in Alaska for a time and attended college in Minnesota. I started out as one of the two people scooping the soup into the paper containers while the other two placed the tops onto the containers and placed the containers on the plastic racks. There were seven plastic vats of beef and barley soup and after scooping two of them I switched over to placing the tops on the individual paper containers. I got an efficient system going and I plowed through the remaining five vats of beef and barley soup and then the seven vats of potato soup. After all the soup had been packaged and placed into the walk in fridge we moved on to our next task which was peeling entire cooked chickens. While peeling the chickens the woman who had greeted us told us about herself. She was one of the head chef’s and had been working at Angel Heart almost a year ago. She spent most of her culinary career working at high-end restaurants where she had nearly unlimited resources. She spoke about having to make use of all of her cooking resources at Angel Heart because of their limited funds and how that has made her a better chef. While she was talking about her experiences at Angel Heart I was peeling the skin and meat off of a cooked chicken. After the first chicken was peeled I switched to tearing the chicken into smaller pieces. After all the chickens had been peeled and diced, Angel Heart was closing and we helped sweep and mop the kitchen. We took off our aprons and I collected my sweatshirt as we left Angel Heart. I enjoyed the cooking shift much more than the driving shift because of how much more rewarding it seemed. We knew that the food that we were helping to prepare would help to being nourishment to people who had to have it to survive.
I was very excited as I set out to do my first shift for Project Angel Heart. I met up with Anya, Jenn, and MaryKate and we drove down to their headquarters in the early afternoon on Saturday, April 11. I had been on a delivery shift with my mom before, although it was for Meals on Wheels. I therefore knew what to expect going into it. Meals on Wheels delivers to the sick and elderly that can’t manage to make it to the grocery store or cook their meals which is very similar to Project Angel Heart, which delivers to the terminally ill. I assumed the people coming to the doors to accept the meals for this delivery would be very similar to the people I had seen before. After about 20 minutes of driving, we found the building and parked the car. My anticipation grew as I headed toward the open door where bunches of big brown bags were being toted out and loaded into waiting cars. As we entered the industrial kitchen, I saw a few people talking to a tall woman and receiving route maps from her. After they sidled past, we walked up and told her we were there to deliver some meals. As she looked up at us, it was as though an icy breeze had blown by. She had a scowl on her face like she was very unhappy to see us, and then she told us that we weren’t scheduled and we should leave. We looked at each other in confusion and told her that our professor had scheduled us for this day, that we were from DU and were one of two groups coming today. She looked at us as though we had no idea what we were talking about and were just a bunch of teenagers there for the sole purpose of making her life hard. After some more protests on our part, she finally gave in and said “okay, we have one route, but it’s small,” as if it wouldn’t be worth anyone’s trouble. I was shocked to receive such a greeting from the person in charge of a non-profit volunteer organization. When my mom and I went to pick up the meals for her delivery route, everyone in the vicinity told us repeatedly how happy they were to see us and how grateful they were that we were there helping. Project Angel Heart’s reception was completely at odds and put me on edge. The irritated woman herded us to a small room where we signed an agreement and non-disclosure form. She sat us down and began explaining to us what we were signing. I can’t quite remember how it fit into her speech, but she began talking about hangovers and told us, “Well, you all go to DU, so I’m sure you’ve been hung over before.” I was quite frankly astonished that anyone would treat volunteers in such a manner, insulting them repeatedly before they even made it out the door. However upset I became at this woman, though, I didn’t let it tarnish what I knew would be a very rewarding experience. With my driving skills and Anya’s navigation skills, we managed to get to every last house without being lost or having to backtrack once. Because there were four of us, we took turns in pairs bringing the food up to each house. The patients were for the most part just as I expected: old, weak, and somewhat cautious around us. We were always friendly and smiling when we talked to them, hoping to make their day just a little better. There was one person we delivered to that really stuck out to me. She lived in an apartment building and we decided to all go up together. As she opened the door to accept the food, she smiled and said thank you, but she kept seeing more of us. For each person she saw, her eyes got a little bigger and she said “Oh!” in a higher pitch each time. She clearly wasn’t expecting having four girls delivering her food for the week. As she prepared to go back inside, she gave us a radiant smile and I knew that we had made her happy. It is this type of interaction that makes the job feel so rewarding. This taste of a new kind of community service made me hungry for more and I am very excited to be involved in a shift in the kitchen soon. I know that I can make a difference in people’s days, if not lives; I love making people happy and giving them the beginning of a better day, as I’m sure we did with the woman in the apartment. This shift was a very gratifying experience.
Kitchen Shift:
Despite my somewhat less than gracious welcome at Project Angel Heart before my delivery shift earlier this week, I was very excited to test my hand at making the food during my kitchen shift. Matt, Cayla, and I arrived at their headquarters in the early evening of Wednesday April 15 and were greeted very warmly by several people working in the industrial kitchen. The three of us and another woman named Andrea were directed to a tall, thin lady stirring a huge vat of chocolate on a stove. This was Summer, the sous chef and our supervisor throughout our shift. Summer had us all wash our hands, put on one of their many colorful aprons (I chose one with an autumn theme), and put on a hat or bandana to keep the food hair-free. As she led us deeper into the kitchen, I watched a number of people chopping what looked to be a never-ending supply of carrots and throwing them into a massive plastic tub, which I can only assume they intended to fill to the brim. Thankful that the carrot-chopping job was fully manned, I eagerly awaited our first assignment. Summer left us for a moment and entered a large walk-in freezer, and came back out rolling a cart with five deep tubs of soup. We were to be the official soup-scoopers. The four of us created an assembly line, with two scoopers and two bowl stackers. We chatted amiably as we steadily filled crate after crate of ham and lentil soup, followed by potato soup, to be frozen. The work was easy and fun. Once we had emptied all the buckets, Summer found a somewhat more interesting job for us: tearing apart chickens. She brought out a tray of six whole baked chickens and told us she wanted shredded chicken meat. We took it in turns to break apart the chickens and to tear up the meat. Being the science majors that we all were, we began analyzing the chicken anatomy as we worked, having just learned a little bit about it in biology class recently. Cayla, in an attempt to bring Andrea into the conversation, began asking her about her history. Andrea had only been volunteering at Project Angel Heart for a couple of months, mostly as a driver, but enjoyed it very much. She majored in food sciences and worked in marketing for a food company in Denver. It was really interesting talking to another volunteer and hear her experiences, and it also helped the work to go faster. This community service shift gave me a different feeling of satisfaction than the delivery shift did. The delivery was more personal; it was obvious that we were making a difference when we handed the food over to the afflicted people, saw how fragile many of them were, and saw the look of gratitude we sometimes received. When doing the kitchen shift, it was less obvious what we were working for. However, it was still rewarding in that we completed a task well. We saw how much soup we had to scoop in the beginning, and then saw at the end all the bowls neatly lined up and the empty buckets off to the side. My satisfaction seemed more tangible just by seeing how much I had done, but was not really related to feeling like I had done something helpful to people with terminal diseases. Regardless, I had a really good time and enjoyed working with the volunteers and staff that were there that day. I feel like I accomplished a lot and was helpful to the workers in the kitchen. I hope to have another shift soon.
I did my delivery shift with Matt, Cayla, and Kelly. Matt and I met Cayla in the lobby of Halls around 12:15 on Saturday, April 4th. We then got into Matt's car and went to pick up Kelly by Jerusalem's, where she was eating lunch. We were running a little late and were in a rush to get to PAH. We had a little bit of difficulty finding it at first and ended up passing the street and going over the freeway. After a couple of minutes, we managed to find the street and arrive at the PAH warehouse. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I'm not too sure what I had in mind, but I didn't expect it to be a large industrial warehouse.
We walked inside and told one of the people there that we were coming to run deliveries. She was finishing up helping one of the other groups of our classmates. After she was finished, she gave us all some forms to fill out and explained to us that our delivery shift was shorter than expected because another driver ended up signing up for the day. She handed Matt the map with our delivery route and explained the process to us. I have to admit, I was slightly entertained at how in depth the form went in to describing how to properly destroy our route sheet after we were finished. I wasn't prepared for how confidential the organization kept their deliveries but it makes perfect sense that many clients wouldn't want people to know why they are having meals delivered. We then went to the car where we tried to make sense of the map—we failed, and sent Cayla back in to ask which direction to go on I-70. Once Cayla returned, we departed onto our deliveries.
I was unofficially assigned to being the navigator and told Matt which direction to go. At the time, I didn't realize that there were 3 dots for deliveries on the map; this was because one of the routes had been removed from our shift. Eventually, I navigated us to an off-white townhouse on elk street. It was a typical middle class home. Since we couldn't all go up to deliver the food, we decided to let the girls deliver the two meals and report back to us. Kelly and Cayla both got out of the car, since this house got two bags, and went up to the door. According to them, a young boy came to the door and took the bags without saying anything. Our next house wasn't far from this one. It was a 3 story beige house with orange trim on Freeport. It also had a two car garage and a nice, black SUV outside. It was a very nice house and wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Cayla went to the door to deliver the meal. She knocked on the door and had to wait quite a while until a man answered the door with an older woman right behind him. Cayla said that they said “thank you” and took the meal. To be honest, I was slightly confused at first as to why someone who was living with what seemed like capable and wealthy people needed to have meals delivered. The black SUV outside the house was from out of state so it then made me wonder that maybe she lived by herself and that she just had friends or family visiting.
Overall, the delivery shift took about an hour and a half. I thought it was going to be much more time consuming and have more spread out routes. I also was surprised to see how nice the houses were that we delivered to. I guess for some reason I was expecting the houses to be not as nice. I enjoyed doing the deliveries and I think that it is something that is not very demanding but helps people out a lot.
I did my kitchen shift with Emily. We left for PAH at about 5:15 in order to get through rush hour traffic. We got there in time and met Summer to get us set up to work in the kitchen. She had us sign in and fill out some forms. Then she let us pick out a locker to keep all of our stuff in. After that, we went into the room where we signed our forms for the delivery shift to pick out an apron, hat, and make a name card. She then had us help cut up all kinds of vegetables for vegetable soup medley they were making. I was excited to practice my knife skills since I use them often in the DU Grilling Society. We began by cutting broccoli, then cauliflower, and then finally onions. They were about six of us total who were cutting vegetables. They guy next to me seemed quite nice and made a few comments about how he used to listen to Led Zeppelin all the time when he was younger, since we were listening to them on the radio for a while. The majority of the time, we listened to one of the workers mixtapes which was full of 90s popular dance songs that I hadn't heard in ages and didn't particularly have a taste for. We must of listened to the cd 3 full times and by the end I was about ready to destroy it. Other than the repetitive music I found the cutting rather calming and I enjoyed it. At one point Summer came over to show me how to properly cut an onion. She used a claw-like style that I had never been shown before and I thought it was nice of her to show me that (even if it was mainly because she was afraid I was going to cut my thumb off).
After we finished cutting all of the vegetables we helped clean up. Summer started by having Emily and I go into the freezer to clean off of the food carts. She assured us not to worry about getting stuck inside and told us that there was a button you could press to let you out from the inside. I found this interesting since I had just watched a show the other day where a guy was killed in a similar freezer because he got locked inside. After we completed that, we helped sweep the floor. We ended up signing out and leaving at around 7:30. It didn't take as long as I had expected but I think that was because so many people were there.
Overall, I enjoyed my kitchen shift a whole lot more than the driving. I think this was because I felt like I was actually doing something more involving than simply dropping off a package of food. I noticed while I was there how much thought is put into making these meals. One of my favorite parts was when I looked at the schedule of meals they had on one of the walls and saw that they were doing a special easter meal for their clients. This was the first time I have done service like this before. I enjoyed it a lot and I think what PAH does is a very unique and important thing. Before this class, I had never realized how many people, regardless of their economic status, can not provide themselves with meals everyday—something simple, yet essential to life. I would be interested to see if other similar organizations exist in most other states or if this is something that is unique to Colorado.
We showed up at Project Angel Heart to pick up our food and were given papers to sign in the conference room. We moved into the room, signed our forms and waited to be lectured on the rules and regulations associated with driving food around to Project Angel Heart clients. Once the lecture came, complete with a joke about college students being prone to hangovers, we turned our papers back and proceeded to wait to be assigned a route. Once we got or route they brought us a cart of food to load into our car, we did so and then ran into our first pitfall. We didn’t know where we were going. After analyzing the map for a few minutes, we decided that it would be best to ask someone for directions. Unfortunately we had not had the best interpersonal relations with some of the staff, who we thought to be, on more than one occasion, rude and short with us. We decided instead to call my mom to ask her to look up directions from were we were to an intersection nearby the first house. Once we had directions to a point within the map given, we were able to find the houses and apartments housing the clients to whom we were to deliver. Once we were at the first client’s residence, I pulled the car up along the street and Leah and Steffi entered the apartment in which the client lived. I remained in the car to look ahead at where we were to deliver next, and the girls returned quickly, having delivered the food. After that we navigated to the next house, where we could pull into the driveway. We did so and a kind older woman stepped out of the house to collect her food. She spoke to us in her driveway for a minute about her dogs before collecting her food and returning inside. After we completed her delivery we navigated to our next three locations, all in a group of duplexes neighboring each other. I delivered one man’s meals while Steffi and Leah took care of the other ones before we got back to the car. Our final delivery was to another apartment complex. Upon entering Steffi and Leah found a note telling them to take the food somewhere around the side (I remained in the car for this delivery, as well) and they proceeded to deliver the food. Then they returned to the car and we drove back to DU.
Kitchen Work
When we arrived at Project Angel Heart, We were not sure where to go. We walked around the office space to which the front door opens and finally found someone to direct to the woman we were supposed to meet. We overlooked her at first because she was on a phone call, but she soon rose to help us out. At once she led us into the kitchen. Before we could actually make the food we were forced to put on head coverings (which turned out, for me, to be a red bandanna) and then led us over to a sink where we were instructed to wash our hands and not touch anything before we got to the food. Then we made it over to the prep area of the kitchen and were taught how to properly proportion and package the meals. We first had to pour orange chorizo soup into plastic containers and then put them on crates to be stacked and subsequently placed in the freezer. Then there came desserts. After doing much the same thing with some cake and pudding that was done with the soup, we had to cut a whole cake or other pastry out from the container it had been cooked in and then portion it out. Afterward, we laid out long strips of plastic wrap along the table, put the dessert pieces on them, and proceeded to cut the plastic wrap in between the desserts in order to wrap them up. We did this with the desserts for a good while before we were done for the day. Following this, we helped the PAH staff clean up, then we talked to them for a short while about working with PAH before we left. For much of the time we spent at PAH the general consensus among Steffi, Leah, and I was the PAH staff isn’t very nice. The Executive Sous Chef Summer kept calling us “kids” and poked fun at the age of some of the songs on the radio (a stereo in the kitchen was playing 95.7, a self-proclaimed “party station”). Things improved after all the hard work was done, though. Summer showed us how to flip food in a frying pan, and was kinder now that we weren’t working with food. During my exchange with Summer, she mentioned that she had a brother named Joshua and I noticed that her last name was Polson. I asked her what school her brother graduated from and she said, “Falcon,” which was the name of the high school from which I had graduated. In a story that ought to end with a bemused “small world,” it turns out that her brother had graduated the year before me. During my junior year, I attended prom with a few friends, Josh Polson, and his then-girlfriend Ali Bornhoft who, in yet another twist of events is the only other student from my high school to attend DU in both of our graduating classes. Fun facts.
I did my volunteer shift on Tuesday, April 7. We were there for about two hours. I went with two of my friends in my hall since no one in the class signed up to go the same day as me. The bus ride there was really long so we thought we had missed our stop and we got off and had to wander around a little bit to find it. When we got there, one of the girls from my hall was sick so they said she couldn’t volunteer with us. I was a little nervous because of hearing about the others’ experiences that weren’t so good there. I wasn’t really looking forward to it because of these impressions. There were a few other people there, a woman and her two kids, a guy about my age, and some adults who were cutting up meat. Most of the people were very quiet and didn’t talk to each other much. Whenever we had contact with someone who worked there or volunteered there, it was pleasant though. Nobody was rude or talked down to us. Once we got started, it felt like we fit right in and it was something we had been doing for awhile.
My friend and I grabbed aprons and bandanas, washed our hands, and put on gloves. We were in charge of ladling tomatoes and grits into containers that would not close. I ladled while my friend closed them because I could not close them at all. While we were doing this, we were working with Stephanie. She has been volunteering there for four or five months every other week. She got into it because she worked with food while she was in college and she wanted to find someplace to volunteer working with food. Then the three of us moved on to cutting tomatoes that were donated, which went by really quickly. The last thing we did was put matzoh balls, for Passover, into containers and then put broth in and package it up. The whole time we were working with Stephanie. During the night, Summer was calling us “team baby food” because the tomatoes and grits looked like baby food. We even got to try some of Summer’s cookies, which were absolutely delicious. I was surprised that we, first time volunteers, got to try some of the food. We finished everything, including cleaning, by 7:30 so we got out of there early. Overall, it was an enjoyable night with nice people and relatively easy jobs.
I don’t really feel like this volunteering impacted me that much. It honestly felt like it was just preparing food for a camp or something like that. It didn’t really feel like what we were doing was going to impact the people very much. It was enjoyable and something I would probably do again but I don’t feel like I grew at all because it is something I have done before. It was nice to meet some people who are interested in helping others, especially those with life-threatening illnesses but I never had a “wow” moment where I really felt accomplished. I don’t know if anything would have made me had an epiphany moment while working in the kitchen because it is one of those things where it is difficult to tell what the impact is since there is no actual contact with the clients. I remember hoping that the actual delivery would have more of an impact on me than making the food.
Delivery Shift
I did the delivery shift on Saturday, April 11 with Kelsey, Mary Kate, and Jenn. It took us only about an hour to delivery all of the meals so it was relatively quick. When we first got to Project Angel Heart, one of the volunteer ladies was very rude to us and did not treat us how she should have treated volunteers. My guess is that she did this because we are young, college students and she felt like we were not really interested in actually volunteering but more that we were forced to do it. Her attitude toward us kind of set my initial mood for the day and I almost walked out right away because of her. It was frustrating to be met with that kind of perception when we were trying to do something for the community. Our experience with her would make me think twice about volunteering there again. I enjoyed the actual delivery but I did not enjoy working with the people at Project Angel Heart, at least that day.
After we read and signed the sheets, we got our meals and our routes. Since I was sitting in the front seat, I got the job of navigating. We decided to start with the farthest house and work our way back toward Project Angel Heart. I was very nervous for the first house because I was not sure what to expect. I didn’t know if this person was going to need help with the food or what kind of condition they would be in. Kelsey and I delivered to the first house and it went smoothly and the lady was very nice. After that, we alternated between two people delivering meals. We had one house that didn’t answer the door so we had to call PAH and leave a message. Overall, the people were very nice and they seemed surprised and excited that so many young people were delivering their food. One lady opened her door and got the biggest smile on her face when she saw all of us standing there. All of the people wished us a Happy Easter since it was the day before Easter and to have a very good day. It all went smoothly, we didn’t get lost, and everyone was very grateful.
I definitely liked this part more than the kitchen delivery. I was more nervous at first but overall, this was a more rewarding experience. I got to see how our actions were actually helping people in the community. All of the people were very polite and seemed genuinely happy when they could easily have been grumpy and hostile because of the condition they are in. This made the entire thing worthwhile. The clients’ attitudes helped me realize that these life-threatening diseases do not completely determine how each person lives. It is just something that they have been diagnosed with and are learning to live with.
I think this was a very good experience for me because it just me in a situation where I was somewhat uncomfortable at first but I realized that it was something that was extremely beneficial to my perception as well as overall beneficial to the people who we were delivering the meals to. Their attitudes and their gratefulness for what we were doing were tremendous and really helped me appreciate the things I have in my life. I also appreciate the fact that there are organizations like this that work to better the lives of those dealing with life-threatening illnesses and those who are dependent on them.
I completed my delivery shift on April 4 with Emily and Kathryn. We arrived at Project Angel Heart at 12:45pm, left by 1:00, and finished our last delivery at 1:40; this was a surprise since we thought that one shift lasts two to three hours. Most of the deliveries were pretty standard – we knocked, and the client answered the door, took the bag, and said “thank you.” Only one of the clients did not answer his door, so we left the food on his porch and called PAH. The phone number we were given did not belong to PAH anymore, so we called the 800 number and asked to be connected to the correct line. One of the houses received five bags (we think this may be why our shift did not last long); three older children took the bags from us. I wondered what kind of situation made it so that five people in one household got meals from PAH. After all, we had delivered food to another home where a child accompanied the adult to the door, but they only received one bag. The last woman whom we visited stands out most in my mind. Of all of the clients we visited she appeared the most sick, but that is not to say that she looked particularly sick. She appeared tired and her eyes were sunken, and she had a breathing tube in her nose. Still, she seemed relatively healthy and answered the door with a loud, pleasant greeting. She was much more talkative than all the others we visited, and she chatted with us for a few moments about the weather before telling us to stay warm as she wished us goodbye.
Although she appeared the most sick, this woman was also the most joyful of those we visited. It seemed that she cherished the life that she had, and seeing us at the door brought a smile to her face. This fits some of the romanticized ideas of illness that we have discussed in class; society assumes that people who are ill cherish life more and take less for granted because they know their time is limited. Whether this woman’s cheery disposition was a direct product of her life-threatening condition I cannot know, but I know that our brief interaction brightened my day. The fact that we received an incorrect phone number was a bit frustrating, a reminder of the occasional lack of organization that takes place in any business, but stereotypically more often in nonprofits. Volunteers feel like they are doing something for the organization and that the organization should make it easy for them. For this reason, it is important for nonprofits in particular to have as few mistakes as possible, and any mistakes may receive more criticism than in other fields of work. Because I want to work in nonprofits, this is a valuable piece of information. Although the work is stressful, I feel that doing this work is important. Knowing that I am making a difference for people, such as the woman discussed above, makes everything else worth the while.
I went to my kitchen shift alone on April 13. I caught the bus at 4:00pm and was at Project Angel Heart at 4:45. I was introduced to Summer, the head chef for the evening shift, and she put me to work right away slicing cakes. After a few minutes, another woman showed up and began wrapping the cake slices to be put in meal bags. Almost two hours later, I had finished slicing all of the donated cakes and developed a small blister on my cake-cutting hand. I helped the other woman wrap the remaining cake slices, wiped a couple tables and swept up, and was waiting at the bus stop before I knew it. Other than asking a few basic questions and saying hello, I did not really talk to others much while I was there. Everyone seemed very friendly and did not do or say anything rude (as some other students experienced), but most of the people near me just went about their work silently. The whole time, there was loud music playing, which created a comfortable, fun working environment.
This experience reinforced my knowledge that sometimes, work like this can be mindless, long and repetitive. Looking ahead to a potential career in nonprofit work, I was already aware of this fact, and I really do not mind these sorts of tasks. Whether I could settle for that kind of work and only that kind of work for the rest of my life has yet to be determined, but I know that there is more to do in nonprofit work, as well. Through my experience slicing cakes, I realized how very important it is to be aware of certain food allergies (particularly those to nuts) and cross-contamination involving these products when mass-producing food. I am not sure when I will use this particular piece of knowledge again, but I suppose it cannot hurt to be aware of it. As I was wrapping some of the last pieces of cake, I tried to think of where the desserts would end up. I tried to remember the people to whom I had delivered meals and to imagine them receiving and eating the cake. Playing the scene out in my mind really did not make the work seem any more meaningful. I think I knew from the beginning that what I was doing was making a difference but would not alter anyone’s life dramatically, and that did not really change. Still, I do not think the experience was a waste of time. I mean, really, who does not smile when they open their meal and find a piece of cake?
Part 1: Delivery My first project for Project Angel Heart was meal delivery. I met with Kathryn and Jenna on Saturday morning before I drove the three of us from DU to the Project Angel Heart kitchen. After becoming slightly lost on the way there, we found the warehouse building, and wondered what exactly we were supposed to do next. There were two intimidating entrances. After randomly choosing one and venturing through it, we were greeted with the pleasant words, “You must be from DU!”
“Yes,” we told the smiling woman in front of us.
“You're in Geoffrey's class?”
“That's us.”
“Great, now would you guys just sign in here? Then you can step into this room over here,” She gestured to a door at the side of the room, “And I'll show you what to do next.”
Suddenly, the intimidation level had sunk considerably. This didn't seem quite so bad after all. We signed in. We read over and initialed a legal document. We received detailed instructions, and I was given a map and a list of names.
As the woman continued to recite instructions and other important information for us, I glanced at the map. I've grown up in Denver, and I'm fairly familiar with its layout. I've prided myself on my “street smarts” for the past two years.
But this was different. These streets made absolutely no sense. I had never heard of them in my life. I then remembered that the Project Angel Heart woman was talking to us, and I realized suddenly that in my worry over the map, I had missed a good amount of seemingly important words that she had just said. I hoped that Kathryn and Jenna were less panicked, and hopefully much more informed, than I was.
And then, quite suddenly, we were off. We were given a large collection of food-filled paper bags and I quickly became worried about how this delivery job was going to turn out. What was Project Angel Heart going to do when I failed on every single one of these deliveries? What were the meal recipients going to go when their food never came, thanks to that awful incompetent driver from DU? Was the company going to hate me forever for bringing about their downfall?
I began to calm down, though, when I stopped and talked to another volunteer on the way to my car. “Do you know where exactly this is?” I asked her. After discovering that our destination was about a 10 minute drive down I-70, I felt my confidence rebuilding. I loaded the meals in the car with Kathryn and Jenna, grabbed my car keys, and set off.
To my amazement, the delivery process flowed quite smoothly. In all but one house, someone answered the door, we smiled, handed them their meal, and left. It seemed to easy to be true. We were done within an hour.
This was certainly a positive experience for me. For one thing, I enjoyed building relationships with two of my classmates. Additionally, I discovered that “volunteering” isn't such a daunting task as I've imagined. Obviously, it involves giving up one's time, but it can be in very simple ways. Driving around Denver did not demand an extraordinary amount of skill or energy from me. However, this doesn't mean that my job wasn't important. I absolutely felt like I was accomplishing something; though small, my actions had a direct, positive effect on someone else. This project wasn't a huge homework assignment I had to tackle, and it wasn't an extremely confusing or demanding task. It wasn't a test I had to pass, or even something I had to be scared of destroying. Quite simply, I did something nice for someone else. Perhaps I should try that more often.
Part 2: Kitchen Shift My second project with Project Angel Heart, meal preparation, was distinctly different from my delivery shift, but it was equally interesting. I partnered with Sean McNiff to venture yet again to Project Angel Heart on a Monday night. I was less nervous this time--I had a better idea what PAH did and what they looked like.
As we stepped into the seemingly empty kitchen, we wondered what we were supposed to do next. We stood around for a couple seconds, looking for someone to tell us what to do. We took a few steps further into the kitchen. “Hey!” a young woman shouted towards us. Smiling, she gestured, “Come on back here.”
She introduced herself as Summer, we signed in, and fitted ourselves with aprons and hats. We washed our hands and were then each given a large green cutting board, which we placed on a long metal table. I was surprisingly excited about this shift. I liked the look and feel of this kitchen. I personally don't cook very often, but when I do, I love it. I find something calming about working with food.
On the table was a gigantic box of broccoli. Summer gave us each large knives and showed us how to cut the broccoli into florets. And so we began, chopping the largest selection of vegetables that I have ever encountered. As we did this, we made occasional light conversation with four other volunteers at the table.
After a while, my hand started to cramp. This task seemed silly, but I was focused on it. Chopping broccoli seems like quite a boring activity, especially when it happens over an extended period of time. I'll admit -- it is. Though mundane, I knew this task was necessary. And so I kept going.
When we finally -- at last! -- finished the broccoli, we were given a monstrous box of cauliflower and told to to do same thing--chop it into florets. Cauliflower was considerably tougher and harder to cut than broccoli. But we pushed forward. My hand started to hurt even more.
Finally, we finished that. I was scared by what the cooks placed in front of us next -- a sack of onions the size of a six-year-old. Into mincing my second onion, my eyes started watering. Then, they stung. Several seconds later, I had to turn away, squeezing my eyes shut, willing the pain to leave.
By that point, I was ready to switch back to broccoli. But I continued, and this happened throughout the entire onion process. When all the teary-eyed volunteers finished the onions,we started cleaning up. We wiped down the tables and swept and mopped the floor. After throwing our aprons int a clothes hamper, we signed out and headed back to DU.
Though slightly painful, with aching hands and burning eyes, this kitchen shift experience was a positive one. I was surprised at the friendliness of all the folks at Project Angel Heart. The way some of my classmates had talked about them, I'd imagined them as pushy, heartless commanders. But they were quite pleasant. I enjoyed their company. It was also nice chatting with other volunteers--I met another college student from Johnson and Wales who was also at PAH for a class.
Moreover, I learned more about PAH's function. I decided, somewhere in the midst of the extensive vegetable process, that this organization was really quite amazing. It started at something quite small--just an idea to do a nice thing for someone else -- and now it's a growing organization with a lovely, fully functional kitchen. Founded on compassion and kindness, I find Project Angel Heart a very pleasant place to be.
Kitchen Shift On early Monday evening, the 30th of March, Kelly, Jen and I all set out to Project Angel Heart for our kitchen shift. After a long bus ride, and a short, cold walk through an area very obviously industrial, we reached the Project Angel Heart building, and gladly entered the warm kitchen. As a Project Angel Heart expert (I had done once before, after all), I knew what was coming, and sure enough, immediately after a brief introduction as to who we were, Kelly, Jen and I were all led to the back room for some kerchiefs. Yet after adorning the adorably old red and blue hair covers, instead of proceeding directly to the chopping, scooping, and scrubbing I assumed awaited us, we were led to a back office room and instructed to sort, count, and bag. So, for the first hour of our “kitchen” shift, Jen, Kelly and I organized material for volunteers for Project Angel Heart’s annual fundraiser, Dining out for Life. We counted pens into groups of ten, envelopes into groups of 100 and a variety of fliers into groups of 5 and 20. Then we put one of each into a blue bag. The work was not horrible, and I enjoyed talking to Kelly and Jen, but I was a little upset at having to do office work rather that the work in the kitchen, with the food, that I was meant to do. After an hour or so of such activity we finished all the work set aside for us and headed into the kitchen. Finally in the kitchen component of our kitchen shift, Kelly, Jen and I worked on packaging desserts. Following the assembly line model we established with the Dining out for Life material, Jen scooped the sweet potato filling into plastic containers, Kelly sprinkled the filling with crumbled Girl Scout cookies, and I closed and stacked the containers. It was, altogether, very much like the office work we did the first hour or so, though it did smell better, of course. The work was monotonous, the conversation was good, and the time passed relatively quickly. However, I found, for some reason, that I enjoyed working in the kitchen more than in the back room. After completing the “kitchen shift”, both the office part and the actual kitchen part, I thought about why I enjoyed the kitchen shift more. It was not more rewarding, in the humanitarian sense. Yes, there were more participants, and I was able to talk to more people in Project Angel Heart. But I don’t think that is why I liked it more; for if my goal was to merely learn more about the organization, then surely reading all the material for the Dining out for Life volunteers would have been much more informative than small talk with volunteers. I think I was disappointed with the office component of my kitchen shift because it simply did not fit into the title ascribed to the volunteer time. The office work was no less rewarding, no less amusing and no less entertaining than the kitchen work; it ultimately was just not the work I expected. With volunteering, I think, we (at least I do) often go in to the situation with an attitude of self-sacrifice, yet we choose what we give and what we do. When we no longer get to choose the sacrifice, or choose the work, the work itself becomes less rewarding. With this Project Angel Heart kitchen shift, I think I saw more of my own motives in approaching volunteering. I was completely satisfied doing mundane labor in the kitchen, for it was a “kitchen” shift, and it was what I anticipated, what I signed up for. However, the moment the mundane labor became something I did not choose or expect it became much more difficult to find meaning in it (though the meaning was definitely there). This kitchen shift, mundane as its two parts were, showed me far more about volunteerism and myself than I would have ever guessed. I always imagined myself the eager do-gooder out to do good just to help. That may be true, but I think this kitchen shift showed me that I am only willing or eager to do “the good” I choose or “the good” I expect rather than “the good” that just needs to be done.
Delivery Shift It was a bright Saturday afternoon when Kelsey, Jen, Anya and I met at noon to drive to Project Angel Heart for our volunteer delivery shift. Thanks to Anya’s fantastic map-reading abilities, the four of us were quickly at Project Angel Heart. At Project Angel Heart, after some confusion as to the purpose and preparation of our presence, a brief over-view of volunteer etiquette, and a short exchange of brown bags and a route sheet, we were soon on our way. The route we were given was relatively short, and it took only around an hour and a half to deliver all the meals. Just as the route I had delivered last quarter was comprised of vastly different clients, this route’s clients seemed rather different also (the clients I delivered bags to personally, at least). The first of my deliveries was with Jen to an elderly woman. The woman took a long time to answer her door, and her dog, though small, made it difficult to hand the bag across the threshold. My second personal delivery, with Anya, was to a married couple who lived in an old brick house. The couple did not answer their door, so Anya and I left the bags with a note on the porch, as instructed. The third of my deliveries was again with Jen to an elderly Hispanic woman who lived in the back of a house enclosed with a wrought-iron fence. The fourth, which we all helped with, was to two women in the same retirement complex. The first woman was waiting outside for us, and the second was in her apartment. The last delivery I made was with Jen to a middle-aged man who lived in a beautiful Victorian brick home near the retirement community with his two huge dogs. Though none of the clients were frightening, (they were all very nice) the dogs certainly were. While this was the second delivery shift I have done for Project Angel Heart, and it is the only type of volunteer shift that has with direct contact with clients, I did not find it more rewarding than the other shifts. The process of handing over bags is so small that a moment of epiphany is difficult to reach with it. I enjoyed seeing the different clients and connecting faces to the food I helped prepare in some way; however, ultimately, I think, the act of volunteering is very rarely emotionally rewarding. The reward, if there is any, is often a result of our own constructions, as I learned with my most recent kitchen shift and my utter lack of reward with the office work. Certainly, everyone involved in the delivery process must be aware that what is happening is good and needed, but the concentration is not on that. The clients we handed the bags to did not make a fuss of thanking us, and it was more like a simple delivery of recently craved and ordered Chinese food (minus the tip) rather than a much needed delivery of nutritional meals. Thus, with this delivery shift, I was glad things went smoothly, and I was happy to drive around on such a beautiful Saturday, but the act of handing over bags did not make much of an impression on me or my thoughts of volunteerism.
We arrived at Project Angel Heart a few minutes early. Kelly, Mary Kate, and myself walked in the front doors and were greeted by cubicles. Not entirely sure where we were supposed to go, we wandered uncertainly towards the kitchen. Summer and the volunteer coordinator greeted us and talked amongst themselves, presumably deciding what our first task should be. It was clear that we were a earlier than expected because there were no other volunteers in the kitchen yet, nor was there a course of action set out for us. The volunteer coordinator finally broke off with Summer and showed us to the aprons and bandanas, such an attractive combination. She waited patiently while we got suited up and ready to do some time in the kitchen. Bandanas tied, and grandma-style aprons donned, there was a sudden change in the coordinator’s mind. She swiftly led us over to a back room that was stuffed full of pretty plastic bags. She explained what Dining Out For Life was, told us our task, and then returned to her desk. She left us to take a set of pens and brochures out of what must have been hundreds of bags. We got right to work, talking quietly to each other. Current life styles and future life goals and potential majors at DU were discussed. Being exiled to the Siberia-esque back corner of Project Angel Heart proved to be a bonding experience for the three of us. We finished taking out the extra components of the bags, and then reported back to the coordinator. She came back to the room and showed us an entirely new set of bags that had been lurking under the tables. These bags were not full enough and needed a set of two different brochures each. We stuffed the bags quickly only to find out that there were completely empty plastic bags that needed to be loaded up. We rapidly stuffed the bags, in an assembly line that would have made even the most efficient of factories proud. Finally done with the room full of plastic bags, we got to relocate to the kitchen and put our beautiful aprons and bandanas to use. We washed our hands, were given delicious cookies to sample, and then got right to work. Desserts. What a wonderful job. Again we formed an assembly line. I scooped sweet potatoes, with an ice cream scooper, Kelly put the tasty smelling crumbs on top of the ice cream scoops of potato, and Mary Kate struggled to close the containers which proved to be shockingly difficult until one got the hang of it. We quickly finished the “sweet potato pies” and moved on to some gourmet looking pears. Again, an ice cream scooper was used to shovel the pears into plastic containers, crumbs were loaded on, and the containers were closed and set aside to wait for distribution to clients. Everything smelled and looked deluxe. All the while we were chatting between the three of us and the two men working on desserts across the table from us. One of them had been volunteering for PAH for over a year, and it was his last day. The other man was almost as new as us and was completing only his second day of volunteering. Eventually we finished scooping and crumbing and closing and quickly sampled our creations, eating extra pears off the table and adding a crumble or two here and there. At that moment there was no doubt that we would have loved to receive such meals from Project Angel Heart. We finished with the food and then got to sweeping the entire kitchen and walk-in refrigerator. We finished quickly and were thanked for our time. We said our goodbyes and left. Initially, I was not thrilled about volunteering, and I was a little nervous. Last quarter I was nervous about volunteering because it was something new and I had no idea what to expect. This time around I was nervous in a different way. It was more that I was anticipating boredom and a nearly exact repeat of last time. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Not only was it different, we were given more entertaining and rewarding tasks than simply putting endless pitas in plastic bags. All around, this volunteer shift exceeded my expectations.
The delivery shift got off to a rough start. Kelsey, Anya, Mary Kate and myself drove to Project Angel Heart. It was wonderfully sunny and warm outside. We pulled up in front of the warehouse that is Project Angel Heart and parked. We filed out of Kelsey’s Honda Civic, clown car style. We walked into the kitchen only to be greeted by a rather unfriendly woman. She made it clear that she was in no way excited to see us. At first she refused to acknowledge that we had scheduled a delivery shift. There was already a group from DU present, so there was no way there could be another group from the same place, or so she thought. Finally, after telling her our names and Geoffrey Bateman’s name she decided to give us a list, only somewhat grudgingly. She led us into the little side room to sign some sheets and hear the very strict directions that the organization had involving delivering food. We sat and listened patiently. The unwelcoming woman who had greeted us was doing well giving us our instructions until she made a comment about hangovers and the correlation to our status as DU students. This comment merited frowns from many, but not all, and some extra hostility towards the woman. However, she finished her speech, thanked us for giving our time, wished us a “Happy Easter” and sent us out on the streets of Denver to give people their food. We left Project Angel Heart slightly bothered by the woman’s attitude towards us. But we quickly got over it and planned out our route. The first house was shockingly close to our starting point. We pulled up to a cute brick house with a nice lawn. Kelsey and Anya got out of the car with great enthusiasm and carried the food up to the front door of the house. They returned to the car in no time. We continued to house number two. Mary Kate and I climbed awkwardly out of the back seat of the two-door car and gathered the necessary bag. We rang the doorbell and waited for the door to open. We heard what sounded, and later proved to be, a tiny dog and some shuffling and a shout proclaiming they would be there in one minute. The door opened and a friendly, older woman opened the door. We handed her the bag and a handle promptly broke nearly sending the bag flying to the ground but somehow it was caught mid fall. Despite the bag mishap, she thanked us and then receded back into her house. The day more or less continued in this manner. Lots of doorbells and lots of friendly recipients. Most of the houses were quaint, with cute lawns, and nice front porches. At one such house nobody came to answer the door. We ended up leaving the meals with a reminder note and calling PAH to report a failed delivery. Another delivery was to an apartment building where two clients lived. One of the clients was waiting outside for us. She greeted all four of us and took her two bags. She thanked us quite a lot and wished us a Happy Easter many times. When we went up the elevator and on to the second client, a door opened and presented an equally friendly and welcoming woman. Another one of the houses was a pretty, red brick house on a dead end. There was a wrought iron gate, the instructions on the delivery sheet said to use the buzzer and the man would come and open it for us. However, the gate was open, so when we rang the buzzer two large dogs came running out of the front door to meet us followed by a nice man who kindly took the food and told us about his dogs. All things considered, it was a good day. Having done this last quarter, I was not overly thrilled at the thought of having to put in two hours to complete a very repetitive assignment. However, this day brought some new things, such as an angry volunteer teacher, an empty house, and friendly dogs. After my service was completed and we were nearing the DU campus I was able to look back on the day with satisfaction.
On Monday, Jen, MaryKate and I went to Project Angel Heart to work our kitchen shift. We met in the lobby of Halls a little before four, and took the bus to Colorado and 41st Street. Then we walked through some warehouse type buildings and ended up at a building with blue awnings and Project Angel Heart vans parked outside. We went in and met with Anne, the volunteer resources coordinator.
ReplyDeleteAnne said that instead of helping in the kitchen, we would begin by preparing bags for volunteers helping with Dine out for Life. We went into the project room and began putting the bags together. Each bag had pens, envelopes, brochures about Project Angel Heart, business cards, and fliers about Dine out for Life. These bags will be given to volunteers who will then visit various restaurants around Denver and ask them to participate in Dine out for Life. The restaurants that participate will, on April 30, donate twenty five percent of their profit to Project Angel Heart, and will also allow representatives from the organization to be in the restaurant that night to raise awareness and spread the word about the program.
After we finished stuffing bags, we went into the kitchen and helped Summer package desserts for the meals. One of the deserts was sweet potato pie filling with graham cracker crumbles on top, and the other was sugared pears with the same topping. When we had finished assembling and packaging the desserts, we all helped sweep the floor, and then walked back to the bus stop and returned to campus.
Even though the work we did was mostly just assembling and packaging things, I had fun working with Jen and MaryKate. We talked about school, our hobbies, and future plans. We also talked to the other volunteers working in the kitchen, one of whom was working his second shift ever, and another who was working his last. It was interesting to hear what types of things the older volunteer had learned while working there. He talked about things like how to scoop soup the best way so that everyone gets a good mixture of broth and vegetables, etc. Even though we didn’t discuss anything of particular significance, I think the fact that we all were working towards a common goal, to help those in need, brought us together.
While I was working at Project Angel Heart, I was comparing the work I was doing currently to other volunteer work I have done, especially in foreign countries. And, although I couldn’t identify any particular reason, I realized that I greatly prefer the types of volunteer work I have done in other countries to that which I have done in the United States. It may be because traveling outside the country is more exciting than traveling a few miles away from home. Or maybe it is because I feel that people in foreign countries need my help more, as they are lacking good programs like Project Angel Heart. But this realization made me think about my motives for volunteering; do I do it because I want to help people, or because it makes me feel good? And do my motives matter?
I came to the conclusion that my motives are multifaceted. I want to help people, and thus enjoy volunteering. So I choose to volunteer both for myself and for others. And I enjoy traveling, so I like to volunteer in different countries. But I also feel drawn to international work because I feel that people in impoverished countries are not given the opportunities that we are in the United States, and I would like to make more opportunities available to them. International work feels more urgent to me, because while ill people in the United States may not be able to cook for themselves and may need assistance, if they were not being treated for their illness in the first place, as is the case in many third world countries, they may not even be alive to eat. And so, it seems to me, the problem that should be addressed first is to make sure people worldwide are getting the help that they need in order to survive.
Volunteering at Project Angel Heart did not only make me feel good for helping others, it also gave me time to reflect. As is often the case, the work that I did to help others was as beneficial to me as it was to those I was helping. I gained a deeper understanding, not only of the suffering that exists in this world and the efforts that need to be made to end it, but also of myself.
I'm not sure if we're supposed to post two separate ones for food prep and delivery, so I just put them both together on one post.
ReplyDeleteWhen we first set out on our delivery route, I did not know what to expect. Stephanie, Zach and I were given a list of a few addresses to deliver to, some with very specific directions on how to knock on their door, call up to their apartment, etc. It was somewhat nerve-racking when we had to deliver to the first person on the list. Stephanie and I entered the apartment complex and rang up to the man’s apartment. The directions told us exactly what to do, all the way down to entering the elevator and going up one floor. The elevator itself added to the nerves of the atmosphere; it was very small and covered in mirrors, and gave the entire situation a weird and almost comical attitude about it. We approached his door, and knocked, only after realizing that he had placed a small sign asking people not to knock, rather to ring a doorbell. Anyhow, he came to the door in pajamas, very friendly, and even wished us a happy Easter. It was a good start to our route that day.
The second woman was also very sweet; she came outside to greet us. It was depressing, in a way, that all the company she has is her dogs and the few minutes spent by the Project Angel Heart volunteers each week that come by to deliver her food. She was waiting at the door for us to arrive and wanted to make conversation, but there wasn’t much to say. She seemed happy, but I got the feeling that her life was rather lonely and this was the only interaction she got on a regular basis with other people.
Another delivery we did was to this one woman, Olivia. It was her birthday, and Project Angel Heart sends out birthday cakes to each of their customers on their birthday. So we got the pleasure of delivering a cake to this woman. Unfortunately, see didn’t seem to be all there mentally, because when we wished her a happy birthday, she simply repeated what we had said back to us. She didn’t even realize it was her own birthday. It was sad, that there was no one there to celebrate her birthday with her, but it was rewarding nonetheless to bring some joy to her day.
Our final delivery was a little out of the ordinary as well. We entered the apartment complex expecting to follow the directions on how to buzz the apartment, when we find a note from the person we are delivering to. He asked us to go around to the back door and knock on the window…we weren’t sure what to think of this, besides finding it kind of comical and awkward, but we did it anyway. We then were unsure of which window to knock on, so we just stood by the door until he saw us through the window and came out to greet us. He was also very friendly and wished us a happy Easter.
The people we encountered were not what I expected. I suppose the first man was typical of what is expected when delivering to people with life-threatening illnesses, and Olivia, the woman with the birthday had an oxygen tank. But overall, it was different than what I expected. I had expected the people to be cold, and look very sickly, just take the food and not speak to us and shut the door. But they were instead very welcoming and friendly, I suppose because they have gotten used to the idea of Project Angel Heart delivering their meals to them each week. They weren’t embarrassed about it, nor were they secretive or mean. It was an interesting experience, not necessarily life-changing, but I am glad I had a chance to do something like this and help out people who cannot help themselves.
Preparing food for Project Angel Heart was, in essence, exactly what I had expected it to be. We scooped, sealed, and stacked various foods in plastic containers and stored them in the freezer for later delivery. Having volunteered in a food pantry type kitchen before, it was not all that interesting of an experience. The first thing we prepared was an, to put it nicely, interesting looking orange soup. Four tubs later, we got to switch over to preparing desserts, which was bread pudding and chocolate sauce. We worked in an assembly line type of fashion, two people scooping, one adding the sauce, and I sealed and stacked each dessert into the crates. It was tedious work, but working together we got it done fairly quickly. We also cut and wrapped pumpkin bread as well as chocolate cake, which was also an assembly line style preparation. Cutting, laying down the plastic wrap, cutting the plastic wrap, then covering the cake actually took up a lot of time. We also cleaned all the surfaces and mopped when we were finished, which I was not expecting.
We did have some bonding with the head chef that day, when she taught us how to flip things in a skillet. She taught us with pepper, and explained how to move the pan just so to make it flip. It’s an impressive move, and even though we weren’t very good at it, it was nice to be treated as equals rather than just a group of kids required to volunteer.
Without doing the delivery as well, the food preparation shift wasn’t really that rewarding of an experience. I didn’t necessarily feel as if I was helping out, it was just tedious preparation work. But I do understand that it is something that has to get done so these people can receive their meals for the week. Once we actually delivered this food to the people, I felt more accomplished about it, knowing that not only did I get to hand these people their food for the week, but I also helped create it. Perhaps if we had done a morning shift, in which we actually assist in the cooking of the food rather than just the rationing of it, I would have enjoyed it more. The overall experience was great, getting to know my classmates as well as do good for people with life-threatening illnesses. It was just not something I realized was rewarding at the time, only after.
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ReplyDeleteDelivery Shift
ReplyDeleteMatt, Sean, and I met down in the Halls lobby around 12:15 and headed out for our Saturday, April 4th delivery shift. We picked Kelly up at the corner of High and Evans, and we made it to Project Angel Heart, making only one wrong turn along the way. We entered through the front door and were welcomed by our classmates just getting ready to head out for their afternoon delivery shift. We then met with one of the volunteers, signed some paperwork, and received our instructions, route, and meals to deliver. The map gave us some trouble, as we were unsure of which way to go on 70 at first and there was an extraneous dot on the map pointing out a house that we did not have a delivery for. After clearing up these minor issues, we did two deliveries in Montabello (Peoria exit off 70 east) to three different people. The first delivery was at an off-white townhouse on Elk street. We delivered meals to two different people at this house. An African American boy came to the door to get the delivery and grabbed it from us without ever speaking a word. He never even said thank you. The second delivery was at a 3 story beige house with orange trim on Freeport. At this house, an African American man answered the door and he seemed genuinely gracious for the meals. He said thank you and an older lady inside also yelled thank you to us. Since we had a short route, it only took us about two and a half hours total, and after finishing our deliveries we headed back to the dorms.
Overall I enjoyed my kitchen shift more than doing deliveries, though it was not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon. One thing that especially bothered me was the fact that the boy at the first house did not say thank you or even acknowledge us. I think what bothers me so much about this is not necessarily that he was rude to us, but his rudeness showed how little he appreciated what the staff at Project Angel Heart does. Volunteers and workers spend hours cooking, preparing, packaging, and delivering meals, not to mention all the behind the scenes work that goes into running a non-profit organization. Growing up, I was taught that when people do you a favor, no matter how small, you are grateful for it and try to return the favor, if not to the same person then to another person in need. My mom, one of the most generous people I know, used to always tell me, “We are very fortunate, and it is our responsibility to share our good fortune with others.” I guess I was just expecting a response more in line with what we received at the second house. Nonetheless, the people at Project Angel Heart save lives every day, so it was satisfying to be able to help these people out.
Kitchen Shift
To be completely honest, I was kind of dreading doing my kitchen shift last Wednesday. I was tired and stressed about the upcoming organic chemistry midterm. However, my perspective quickly changed, and I ended up having a great time. Kelsey, Matt, and I met in Halls lobby and made it to Project Angel Heart right on time despite the rush hour traffic. We walked into the kitchen, unsure of how to proceed. We introduced ourselves to Summer, the chef, and she gave us instructions to put on aprons, wash our hands, and start ladling out soup. We had a fun time picking out our aprons (there were so many choices) and the three of us and another volunteer got to work scooping soup into cups and putting lids on the cups. We did this for almost 2 hours, at which time we finished the soup and began tearing apart and shredding whole, cooked chickens. The three of us being biology majors, we thoroughly enjoyed this job. We took turns dissecting the chicken, studying its anatomy as we went. I think the other lady working with us thought we were a crazy bunch of science nerds, but there might be some truth to that. Upon completing that task, it was time to clean up. We swept and mopped the floor, said goodbye and thank you to the workers, and finally headed back to the dorms to get some much needed studying done. The shift took just under three hours.
Even though the work was tedious, the time flew by. They had the radio on, so we jammed to some good music and talked while we worked. Summer seemed really cool, and she came over to talk to us a couple times. It was interesting to learn how this job was completely different from anything she had done before. She explained to us how it was tough to stick to the budget while cooking tasty meals for such a vast number of people with different health issues. She told us how the clients often called to give feedback, both positive and negative. She also told us how they sometimes received ridiculous food donations and had to come up with creative recipes. For example, a couple days ago they had received two pounds of chopped carrots and dates mixed together, and they were still trying to figure out what to do with it. The volunteers working that night were all very friendly and nice to us, making the kitchen shift enjoyable.
The more I learn and experience about Project Angel Heart, the more I like the organization. Their history is intriguing, especially how when they were short on funds they had to cut back and focus strictly on people living with AIDS. To me, this would be an extremely difficult thing to do, knowing that there were people in need being left behind and there was nothing that could be done to help them. I was happy to learn that the organization no longer has this problem, as they have expanded their client group and are even in the process of building a new location. I have never done service for an organization like this before, and based upon the few hours I have spent at Project Angel Heart, I am looking forward to learning more through the oral history projects.
I did my delivery shift with Matt, Sean and Cayla. We drove to Project Angel Heart and when we got there we had to sign some forms, mostly agreeing to keep the clients’ information private. Then Kris, one of the workers in charge of organizing the delivery shifts, assigned our deliveries, of which we only had two. We headed east on I-70, towards Montebello, and got off at the Peoria exit. We had some trouble finding the first house, but eventually came to an off-white townhouse on Elk street. The townhouse was in a suburban area and was made of wood and stone. Cayla and I went to the door, and waited on the porch until a young boy came to the door. He seemed accustomed to getting the deliveries, and took the two bags we had for him and went inside. This delivery got two bags, probably because whoever was getting the meals had a child that they were unable to cook for.
ReplyDeleteOur second delivery was close by, and after driving past a school and a Boy’s and Girl’s Club we came to a three story house with white trim and a two car garage on Freeport Road. There was a black SUV in the driveway, and Cayla went to the door to drop off the bag. A man answered the door, and there was an older woman just inside. They took the bag and thanked her, and then we left and came back to campus.
The delivery shift was quick and not too exciting; most of the time was spent just driving. I was surprised to see that the houses we delivered to were in fairly nice, suburban areas, and were pretty well kept. I don’t know what I had expected, I guess more run-down houses. I also had expected it to be more exciting, I guess because I thought we’d be spending more time with the clients than we did. But it makes sense, these people are used to getting a delivery every week and probably never really spend much time with the volunteers.
The shift made me think again about the reasons that people volunteer, especially because we all noticed that the boy at the first house didn’t thank us for the meals. Does everyone who works at Project Angel Heart expect to be thanked for what they do? And if we were the ones getting the meals every week would we thank the people who made the deliveries, or would it become so routine that thanks would seem unnecessary? I don’t really think it matters either way, but the experience made me think, like I did after my kitchen shift, about how everyone who volunteers has some kind of selfish motive in addition to the desire to do good.
Kitchen Shift
ReplyDeleteMy kitchen shift turned out to be a lot different than I expected. Upon seeing the building, it surprised me that it was a warehouse-like structure. I suppose I was expecting some sort of cozy building that welcomed volunteers. When I first walked into Project Angel Heart, the first thing that I distinctly noticed was the vast array of office cubicles in the entryway. The idea that there was a lot of office work in the non-profit shouldn’t have taken me by surprise but it did. When we walked in, the only person that I could hear was a woman on the phone. She seemed to be discussing some logistics about volunteering. The one statement that stood out was that “We’re trying to make Tuesday night kid’s night.” We worked our way through the maze of cubicles until we reached a back office, one that actually had a door. The woman there told us that we should check in with another woman—the woman who happened to be on the phone. Finally, she took us back to the kitchen area.
When I walked into the kitchen, I was surprised at how barren it was. I had expected more decorations, more of a welcoming feeling. It looked like the kitchen of a restaurant. In fact, the entire time that I was there I couldn’t help but compare it to my experience working at Noodles and Company for two years. The only decorative structure was on the ceiling which displayed PAH’s mission statement or motto. We were showed to a volunteer break room. The room had more of cozy feeling, with decorations and color on the walls. On one wall, aprons were hung on the rack, in slight disarray. There was a box of bandanas and hats. I placed on an apron and bandana as well as a nametag. Then, we were told to wash our hands. She even told us exactly how to wash our hands—20-30 seconds and don’t forget the fingernails. After washing our hands, we were not allowed to touch any part of our clothes, face, or hair. Yet, they did not require us in any way to where gloves, which seemed odd to me after working in a restaurant. The atmosphere in the kitchen was less friendly than I had imagined. From the video that we watched in class, I had expected more volunteers, laughing and smiling. The environment that we worked in did not start off very welcoming. It was right down to the business of the evening. Summer, the evening sous chef, directed us to a counter in the center, where one of the volunteers was ladling soup into bowls. It was some sort of chorizo soup. The first job that I had was closing the containers that he was ladling soup into. The bowls were apparently very cheap, so they did not close very easily, but I eventually got the hang of it. The volunteer that I worked with was actually very kind. When he filled a bowl with too much soup so that I could not close it, he kindly laughed, called it an operator error, and removed some of the extra soup. When this task was finished, we were told to bring the dishes back to the dishwasher (after clarifying where that was exactly) and to label the stacks of soup.
Next, we began the desserts. We started off with bread pudding, scooping it like ice cream into containers. Then, a ladle of chocolate sauce was added. That was about as simple as it could be. I mainly scooped the bread pudding into containers, while the four of us worked in an assembly-line style. Occasionally, I would jump down to the end and help Leah close the containers and stack them. We did four pans of bread pudding. During this time, another volunteer arrived, beginning to chop onions. Apparently, he always chops onions when he comes. He enjoys having the same job every week. After we were finished, Summer told us to bring the containers, even the one with the extra chocolate sauce to the dishwasher and label the desserts. I was surprised that they simply threw away the extra chocolate sauce; it seemed wasteful.
The final task we were assigned was to wrap pumpkin bread and chocolate cakes. We worked in two teams. I worked with another volunteer (the one who chopped onions). He cut the pumpkin bread into slices while I wrapped them in saran wrap. This was another part where I was surprised that we were not required to wear gloves, when touching the food directly. The pumpkin bread was pretty easy, but the chocolate cake was slightly messier. When I was talking to the volunteer, he asked why we were volunteering. When I explained, he seemed surprised at why we had picked Project Angel Heart. When I was wrapping, I was also surprised at the technique used to cut the saran wrap. They used a knife to cut the saran wrap on the table. In a restaurant, I would consider that unsafe and dangerous. However, to them, it was very practical. Between our two teams, we had to share one saran wrap container, which wasn’t a big problem.
Upon finishing, it was our turn to clean up. One of the volunteers brought us buckets, red and green, and told us to wash with the red first, followed by the green. We had just about finished with the red when Summer appeared saying green first and then red. So we began again with the green. We also wiped down all of the tables that we hadn’t worked on. Then we had to sweep where Summer and the other volunteer had not been able to. By this time, both the volunteers were mopping the kitchen. It was then our turn to help mop. I grabbed a mop and mopped where no one else had yet mopped. However, as I was mopping, I couldn’t help but think at how mopping really doesn’t quite get the floor clean.
At that point, we were done. However, we spoke with Summer for awhile. She taught us something about oil and which oils to use. Then she also showed us how to flip peppercorn in a pan. The other two volunteers had already left. She also asked us a lot of questions about our writing class and why we were volunteering at Project Angel Heart. From this, I was able to relate to her more. I’m wondering if we had had this conversation at the beginning of our shift if I would see the experience differently. After this, we hung up our aprons and removed our bandanas (all the while I’m wondering how many people have worn those). And thus ended our kitchen shift at Project Angel Heart.
The entire shift felt like working in a restaurant again. It was a job to me; it didn’t feel like volunteering. Perhaps it is because I worked in a restaurant, and the tasks we completed are done daily in the restaurant business. However, I didn’t ever get the feeling that we were serving the greater good. I enjoyed what we did, mainly because I was able to talk to other volunteers and other classmates, but beyond that, there was no epiphany. To me, the one shift wasn’t quite enough to get the overall experience. If I volunteered on a regular basis, I feel that I would have a better connection with the work I was doing and who I was doing it for. One night did not give me that feeling. Yet, the experience did teach me something about volunteering. To volunteer, your heart has to be in it. That is what made this experience different from my other volunteer projects. I was volunteering at Project Angel Heart because it was required for class, but the other projects I worked on, I had more at stake—I wanted to make a difference. Had I gone into Project Angel Heart with that attitude, I believe that the experience may have turned out differently. For that reason, I would like to go back and volunteer another time, just to see.
Delivery Shift
The delivery shift began with little excitement. We arrived at Project Angel Heart and had to fill out some paperwork. The paperwork had a confidentiality agreement so as to protect PAH’s clients information. We received our route information. The route had us going to five stops. However, we had a lot of bags to deliver because one house had five bags for five people. The area that we covered was in Denver off of Peoria and I-70. The first thing that I noticed about the route was how specific the directions for delivery were. It not only told you the address, but also a description of the house and how you should knock on the door. It was very user-friendly.
The first house we arrived at, we knocked on the door. A woman opened the door, took our delivery and said thank you. That was all. The second house that we went to, no one answered the door, so we left the food on the porch with a delivery slip. At the third house, a young girl and a woman opened the door and accepted the delivery. The fourth house was the house with the family, and three young boys took the meals and said thank you. It was at the final house that we actually had a conversation. The woman opened the door and remarked on the cold and windy weather. She even made a joke about not wearing a nice hairdo that day. She said thank you and wished us a good day. She also told us to bundle up and keep warm.
For the most part, I couldn’t even tell that the people accepting deliveries were sick. The only one that it was actually visible in was one of the women with an oxygen tube. However, that does not suggest life-threatening illness. If I had gone in not knowing that these people were ill, I wouldn’t have guessed. I also took note that at three of the five stops the people accepting the deliveries were African American. The other woman was white, and the other delivery we left on the porch. This type of experience broke down the stereotypes of “sick” people. It wasn’t just one type of person—some had families, others lived alone, males and females. Though there was a pattern in ethnicity, there seemed a variety of different people and personalities.
Although the experience seemed rather anticlimactic, I was able to relate this experience in some detail to my kitchen shift. The moment occurred was when I peeked into one of the bags we were delivering and noticed a bowl of the soup that I had helped package on Tuesday. For me, that moment exemplified how even though the organization has many different parts, they all come together at the end—when clients receive their meals. Another realization that I had was at the last house when we talked with the woman at the door. I finally understood that these people that receive meals are other human beings. I suppose that I had expected them to be sick, but never imagined that I could have a conversation with them. That last client was just an ordinary person that I could have met on the street.
After the kitchen shift, I felt like that delivery shift should have more meaning, possibly more “feel good” character. Yet, I wasn’t changed by the delivery experience, nor did the actual work affect me in a life-altering way. As I am writing this, the words seem cold-hearted, like I didn’t care about what I was doing. The truth is that my feelings are exactly the opposite. I liked what I was doing, but the deeper meaning didn’t exist. It is unlikely that volunteering at Project Angel heart will be on my list of greatest experiences of my lifetime or experiences that changed my life. However, it did change how I see the organization as a whole and how I perceive these people helped by Project Angel Heart. Yet, the truth is that I haven’t saved the world, nor did I save anyone’s life; I just handed a bag to another person that happened to contain food.
Kitchen Shift
ReplyDeleteI completed my kitchen shift for Project Angel Heart on Tuesday, March 31. My initial impression of the organization was based on its location in town and the exterior of its building. It was not an area that I would have expected to find a nice kitchen or a non-profit organization. Most of the buildings around Project Angel Heart were warehouses or depots.
The inside of the building was much better. We first went into the office area that had the appearance of a typical office except for the fact that it was cluttered with hand decorated bags that I presume were to be delivered to clients.
I was affronted when many of the Project Angel Heart staff referred to us as “kids.” I know it’s kind of silly but feel that the name “kids” has negative connotations about our ability levels. The few people that were present were nice though.
Our first task was moving bright orange soup from the large containers that it had been stored in to small individual containers for delivery to clients. Our group: Zach, Leah, Kathryn, and me, worked with another volunteer to scoop soup into the containers and then close the lids and stack them. As the chef for the night boasted, the containers cost only 5¢ each and that showed in the quality of the container. They were not the most stable and they were very difficult to close but I suppose they work for their purpose. I was a scooper with the other volunteer, Leah and Kathryn were closers, and Zach stacked the individually packed soup meals. The actual meal that the client was getting varied based on where in the large containers we were getting soup from. Near the top, the soup was mostly broth and near the bottom, it was much heartier with lots of vegetables and meat in each serving.
Our next project was dessert. We used an ice cream scoop to make balls of bread pudding in individual containers then drizzled chocolate sauce on top. The bread pudding varied a lot from tray to tray or even from one part of the tray to another. Parts were over cook while other parts were kind of gooey. Parts had tons of brown sugar while other parts were mostly bread. The bread pudding packaging took much less time than the soup portioning. I was surprised when we finished and were told to take the large, partially full vat of chocolate sauce to the washing area to be disposed of. It seemed wasteful to me.
We then moved on and wrapped pumpkin bread in saran wrap. I had been curious about a bunch of vertical lines that had been etched into most of the steel work tables and when we were wrapping pumpkin I figured out what caused them. We laid out a layer of plastic wrap on the table then placed each piece of bread on the table and cut the plastic wrap in between each piece with a knife. The marks on the tables were spaced with the cuts in the saran wrap. The portion size of the pumpkin bread varied a lot. We were working with another volunteer who had been introduced to us simply as the onion guy. The onion guy was very generous with his portions and some were almost as big as typical loafs of bread.
At one point, a woman came into the kitchen and talked with Summer (the chef) for a while. On her way out, she grabbed a piece of pumpkin bread and said, “I’m famished, I’m stealing one of these.” I don’t know what this woman’s role was with Project Angel Heart, but I was surprised by her callousness and by the fact that she took the food that was meant for clients of the organization.
The last food prep we did was to wrap up pieces of white cake with chocolate frosting. We did it the same as with the pumpkin bread. The frosting from the cake made quite a mess but it went fast because we had a system by that point.
As we were preparing to leave, we started talking with Summer. A few interesting things came up with the conversation. First, Zach went to high school with Summer’s little brother. Second, Summer taught us how to flip food in a frying pan. I really want to try it with food that I’m actually trying to cook and not just peppercorn.
Driving Shift
I helped deliver food on Saturday April 11th and I thought it was a much more interesting experience than the kitchen shift was. I worked with Zach and Leah and we had a route that was near Colorado and Monaco. We had a relatively short route in which we delivered food to six different Project Angel Heart clients. Our first problem was that while Project Angle Heart did give us a map of the locations, it was a very specific map with no major cross streets that we recognized on it. We ended up calling Zach’s mom and having her give us directions to the area so we could figure it out from there. Most of the deliveries that we made stick in my mind for a different reason.
The first one was at an apartment complex. The directions that Project Angel Heart gave us told us to buzz him and the he would let us in then we were to take the elevator to the fourth floor and go to his room. For one, the elevator was very small with mirrors set into wood paneling. It was a very oppressive space. Also, you couldn’t feel when the elevator was moving which was kind of disorienting. We found his door which had a bunch of “God Bless American” stickers, and I missed the “Do not knock” sticker until after I had knocked. The man that answered was small and frail looking and though he was pleasant and said thank you and wished us a happy Easter, it was obvious that he was not comfortable and wanted us to leave so he could retreat back into his apartment. The elevator was worse going down.
The second was a woman living in a very nice home. Unlike the first man, she obviously wanted company. When we pulled into the drive way, she came out and met us. We stood in the drive way for a few minutes before leaving. We talked about the weather and her little dogs which she said she left inside because they would go crazy around us. This client made me sad because she didn’t seem to have the connections to the outside world that she desired. So much so that she sat in a chair watching out her window for the people delivering her meals to arrive.
The next three clients lived next door to each other in a duplex sort of thing. Zach took one of the bags and Leah and I took the other two. The first of the two clients was receiving a birthday cake. Before we left Project Angel Heart they had told us that every client gets a cake during the week of their birthdays. The woman that answered was very frail and on oxygen. Leah handed her the cake and we both said happy birthday. At first, she was confused. She said happy birthday back to us and just nodded along. We told her that it was her birthday and she looked kind of surprised then said that she had forgotten. The second of the clients in the duplexes was very efficient. He took all of the bags quickly, said thank you, and went back inside.
The last client we delivered food to was possibly the most interesting. We arrived at the apartment complex and had the offer to either park in the street or in the McDonald’s parking lot. The directions from Project Angel Heart told us to enter the apartment building and scroll through the list of names to find the client’s and then buzz him. When we entered though, there was a piece of paper taped over the list that read something along the lines of, “Project Angel Heart delivery for 105, please go around to the back door and knock on the window next to the door.” Leah and I went around to the back of the apartment complex but then we felt really awkward knocking on the window. We spent a couple of minutes standing in the back alley laughing about the note before a man peered through the curtains. It was funny seeing his head appear and he just smiled and nodded at us, then he disappeared. He appeared at the door a little while later with no shoes or shirt on.
I think that one of the biggest things that I really got from the day was how wide the client base for Project Angel Heart varies. Some of the people we delivered to, like the woman at the second house, seemed outwardly fine and lived in a nice place. Others, like the first man or the woman with a birthday, we obviously sick and needing help. Some of the people were very comfortable with us, like the woman in the second house or the man at the last apartment. Others didn’t want us around, like the man at the first apartment or the man at the second duplex. The mental, physical, and monetary state of the clients varied a lot.
Driving Shift
ReplyDeleteMy first experience with Project Angel Heart was work on a delivery shift. The experience was not as profound as I would have expected. It wasn’t like the movies were someone with a life threatening illness answers the door, tears in their eyes and declares the person delivering the meal a savior. No dramatic music cued as we rolled up to the house to deliver the food, and as they took the food from out hands no profound moment of enlightenment ensued. We delivered a needed service and even though I’m sure they were grateful, the event wasn’t as it is often portrayed. The delivery shift started with our group of four people arriving at Project Angel Heart five minutes late. I was driving and I was surprised to see the location of the headquarters of the organization. The street leading to the headquarters was located right next to a run down liquor store and even though the facility was nice it was situated in a somewhat undesirable area. The person who greeted us seemed not to notice we were late for out delivery shift, which was nice, but she did get right down to business. She brought out several forms for us to sign and look at, detailing legalities of the delivery. I thought it was kind of interesting that one of the activities that was prohibited during the delivery was engaging in any dating relationship of the clients. I’m sure it was directed drivers who were closer to the age of the clients, but I found it interesting nonetheless. Our first delivery was to a to a two story home with a two car garage. I can’t give the address because that was one of the rules we had to sign on the contract. I stayed in the car but two of other people in the car got out to deliver the three food bags that for the clients in the house. There were two clients at the one house but the person who answered the door was neither client. Interestingly enough the person who answered the door did not thank us for what we felt was an important service worthy of a thank you. We left that house and moved on to the final house on our delivery shift. It was another two-story house with orange trim but not two-car garage. There was only one bag to deliver this house so only one person needed to leave the car for the delivery. Once again the person who accepted the delivery was not the client but they did thank us, as did the client who was somewhere else in the house. That ended our shorter than expected delivery shift (only 1 hour long) and we decided it was time to return to DU. I now realize that community service is not about having profound life changing moments for yourself, it’s about helping people. Even though people may not openly show their appreciation it’s important to understand that they do appreciate these services because without them they may not be able to survive.
Kitchen Shift
I met down in Halls lobby with Cayla and Kelsey at 4:25 on April 15th to go to the kitchen shift at Project Angel Heart. I was slightly apprehensive about my upcoming shift because of what I had heard from others about the kitchen shift. People claimed that the regular workers at project angel heart often treated them like they were children or talked about them being “hung over.” The traffic along Colorado Blvd was pretty bad but we were still able to arrive at Project Angel Heart on time. When we arrived and walked into “Randy’s Kitchen” no one was there to report to. We walked into the kitchen and saw several people cutting carrots and two people stirring a large vat of chocolate. One of the women that was stirring the vat of chocolate came over and greeted and asked us if we were the group from DU. We said we were and another volunteer that wasn’t from DU joined our group to prepare for the kitchen shift. I put my sweatshirt into a locker and grabbed a blue project angel heart apron. I then proceeded to wash my hands in preparation of handling the food. The same woman who had greeted us (I can’t recall her name) assigned us our first task, placing soups from giant plastic bins into small individual paper containers. We introduced ourselves to the lady who was not from DU and found out that she had been volunteering at project angel heart for several months. She had lived in Alaska for a time and attended college in Minnesota. I started out as one of the two people scooping the soup into the paper containers while the other two placed the tops onto the containers and placed the containers on the plastic racks. There were seven plastic vats of beef and barley soup and after scooping two of them I switched over to placing the tops on the individual paper containers. I got an efficient system going and I plowed through the remaining five vats of beef and barley soup and then the seven vats of potato soup. After all the soup had been packaged and placed into the walk in fridge we moved on to our next task which was peeling entire cooked chickens. While peeling the chickens the woman who had greeted us told us about herself. She was one of the head chef’s and had been working at Angel Heart almost a year ago. She spent most of her culinary career working at high-end restaurants where she had nearly unlimited resources. She spoke about having to make use of all of her cooking resources at Angel Heart because of their limited funds and how that has made her a better chef. While she was talking about her experiences at Angel Heart I was peeling the skin and meat off of a cooked chicken. After the first chicken was peeled I switched to tearing the chicken into smaller pieces. After all the chickens had been peeled and diced, Angel Heart was closing and we helped sweep and mop the kitchen. We took off our aprons and I collected my sweatshirt as we left Angel Heart. I enjoyed the cooking shift much more than the driving shift because of how much more rewarding it seemed. We knew that the food that we were helping to prepare would help to being nourishment to people who had to have it to survive.
Delivery Shift:
ReplyDeleteI was very excited as I set out to do my first shift for Project Angel Heart. I met up with Anya, Jenn, and MaryKate and we drove down to their headquarters in the early afternoon on Saturday, April 11. I had been on a delivery shift with my mom before, although it was for Meals on Wheels. I therefore knew what to expect going into it. Meals on Wheels delivers to the sick and elderly that can’t manage to make it to the grocery store or cook their meals which is very similar to Project Angel Heart, which delivers to the terminally ill. I assumed the people coming to the doors to accept the meals for this delivery would be very similar to the people I had seen before.
After about 20 minutes of driving, we found the building and parked the car. My anticipation grew as I headed toward the open door where bunches of big brown bags were being toted out and loaded into waiting cars. As we entered the industrial kitchen, I saw a few people talking to a tall woman and receiving route maps from her. After they sidled past, we walked up and told her we were there to deliver some meals. As she looked up at us, it was as though an icy breeze had blown by. She had a scowl on her face like she was very unhappy to see us, and then she told us that we weren’t scheduled and we should leave. We looked at each other in confusion and told her that our professor had scheduled us for this day, that we were from DU and were one of two groups coming today. She looked at us as though we had no idea what we were talking about and were just a bunch of teenagers there for the sole purpose of making her life hard. After some more protests on our part, she finally gave in and said “okay, we have one route, but it’s small,” as if it wouldn’t be worth anyone’s trouble.
I was shocked to receive such a greeting from the person in charge of a non-profit volunteer organization. When my mom and I went to pick up the meals for her delivery route, everyone in the vicinity told us repeatedly how happy they were to see us and how grateful they were that we were there helping. Project Angel Heart’s reception was completely at odds and put me on edge.
The irritated woman herded us to a small room where we signed an agreement and non-disclosure form. She sat us down and began explaining to us what we were signing. I can’t quite remember how it fit into her speech, but she began talking about hangovers and told us, “Well, you all go to DU, so I’m sure you’ve been hung over before.” I was quite frankly astonished that anyone would treat volunteers in such a manner, insulting them repeatedly before they even made it out the door. However upset I became at this woman, though, I didn’t let it tarnish what I knew would be a very rewarding experience.
With my driving skills and Anya’s navigation skills, we managed to get to every last house without being lost or having to backtrack once. Because there were four of us, we took turns in pairs bringing the food up to each house. The patients were for the most part just as I expected: old, weak, and somewhat cautious around us. We were always friendly and smiling when we talked to them, hoping to make their day just a little better. There was one person we delivered to that really stuck out to me. She lived in an apartment building and we decided to all go up together. As she opened the door to accept the food, she smiled and said thank you, but she kept seeing more of us. For each person she saw, her eyes got a little bigger and she said “Oh!” in a higher pitch each time. She clearly wasn’t expecting having four girls delivering her food for the week. As she prepared to go back inside, she gave us a radiant smile and I knew that we had made her happy. It is this type of interaction that makes the job feel so rewarding.
This taste of a new kind of community service made me hungry for more and I am very excited to be involved in a shift in the kitchen soon. I know that I can make a difference in people’s days, if not lives; I love making people happy and giving them the beginning of a better day, as I’m sure we did with the woman in the apartment. This shift was a very gratifying experience.
Kitchen Shift:
Despite my somewhat less than gracious welcome at Project Angel Heart before my delivery shift earlier this week, I was very excited to test my hand at making the food during my kitchen shift. Matt, Cayla, and I arrived at their headquarters in the early evening of Wednesday April 15 and were greeted very warmly by several people working in the industrial kitchen. The three of us and another woman named Andrea were directed to a tall, thin lady stirring a huge vat of chocolate on a stove. This was Summer, the sous chef and our supervisor throughout our shift.
Summer had us all wash our hands, put on one of their many colorful aprons (I chose one with an autumn theme), and put on a hat or bandana to keep the food hair-free. As she led us deeper into the kitchen, I watched a number of people chopping what looked to be a never-ending supply of carrots and throwing them into a massive plastic tub, which I can only assume they intended to fill to the brim. Thankful that the carrot-chopping job was fully manned, I eagerly awaited our first assignment. Summer left us for a moment and entered a large walk-in freezer, and came back out rolling a cart with five deep tubs of soup. We were to be the official soup-scoopers.
The four of us created an assembly line, with two scoopers and two bowl stackers. We chatted amiably as we steadily filled crate after crate of ham and lentil soup, followed by potato soup, to be frozen. The work was easy and fun.
Once we had emptied all the buckets, Summer found a somewhat more interesting job for us: tearing apart chickens. She brought out a tray of six whole baked chickens and told us she wanted shredded chicken meat. We took it in turns to break apart the chickens and to tear up the meat. Being the science majors that we all were, we began analyzing the chicken anatomy as we worked, having just learned a little bit about it in biology class recently. Cayla, in an attempt to bring Andrea into the conversation, began asking her about her history. Andrea had only been volunteering at Project Angel Heart for a couple of months, mostly as a driver, but enjoyed it very much. She majored in food sciences and worked in marketing for a food company in Denver. It was really interesting talking to another volunteer and hear her experiences, and it also helped the work to go faster.
This community service shift gave me a different feeling of satisfaction than the delivery shift did. The delivery was more personal; it was obvious that we were making a difference when we handed the food over to the afflicted people, saw how fragile many of them were, and saw the look of gratitude we sometimes received. When doing the kitchen shift, it was less obvious what we were working for. However, it was still rewarding in that we completed a task well. We saw how much soup we had to scoop in the beginning, and then saw at the end all the bowls neatly lined up and the empty buckets off to the side. My satisfaction seemed more tangible just by seeing how much I had done, but was not really related to feeling like I had done something helpful to people with terminal diseases. Regardless, I had a really good time and enjoyed working with the volunteers and staff that were there that day. I feel like I accomplished a lot and was helpful to the workers in the kitchen. I hope to have another shift soon.
I did my delivery shift with Matt, Cayla, and Kelly. Matt and I met Cayla in the lobby of Halls around 12:15 on Saturday, April 4th. We then got into Matt's car and went to pick up Kelly by Jerusalem's, where she was eating lunch. We were running a little late and were in a rush to get to PAH. We had a little bit of difficulty finding it at first and ended up passing the street and going over the freeway. After a couple of minutes, we managed to find the street and arrive at the PAH warehouse. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I'm not too sure what I had in mind, but I didn't expect it to be a large industrial warehouse.
ReplyDeleteWe walked inside and told one of the people there that we were coming to run deliveries. She was finishing up helping one of the other groups of our classmates. After she was finished, she gave us all some forms to fill out and explained to us that our delivery shift was shorter than expected because another driver ended up signing up for the day. She handed Matt the map with our delivery route and explained the process to us. I have to admit, I was slightly entertained at how in depth the form went in to describing how to properly destroy our route sheet after we were finished. I wasn't prepared for how confidential the organization kept their deliveries but it makes perfect sense that many clients wouldn't want people to know why they are having meals delivered. We then went to the car where we tried to make sense of the map—we failed, and sent Cayla back in to ask which direction to go on I-70. Once Cayla returned, we departed onto our deliveries.
I was unofficially assigned to being the navigator and told Matt which direction to go. At the time, I didn't realize that there were 3 dots for deliveries on the map; this was because one of the routes had been removed from our shift. Eventually, I navigated us to an off-white townhouse on elk street. It was a typical middle class home. Since we couldn't all go up to deliver the food, we decided to let the girls deliver the two meals and report back to us. Kelly and Cayla both got out of the car, since this house got two bags, and went up to the door. According to them, a young boy came to the door and took the bags without saying anything. Our next house wasn't far from this one. It was a 3 story beige house with orange trim on Freeport. It also had a two car garage and a nice, black SUV outside. It was a very nice house and wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Cayla went to the door to deliver the meal. She knocked on the door and had to wait quite a while until a man answered the door with an older woman right behind him. Cayla said that they said “thank you” and took the meal. To be honest, I was slightly confused at first as to why someone who was living with what seemed like capable and wealthy people needed to have meals delivered. The black SUV outside the house was from out of state so it then made me wonder that maybe she lived by herself and that she just had friends or family visiting.
Overall, the delivery shift took about an hour and a half. I thought it was going to be much more time consuming and have more spread out routes. I also was surprised to see how nice the houses were that we delivered to. I guess for some reason I was expecting the houses to be not as nice. I enjoyed doing the deliveries and I think that it is something that is not very demanding but helps people out a lot.
I did my kitchen shift with Emily. We left for PAH at about 5:15 in order to get through rush hour traffic. We got there in time and met Summer to get us set up to work in the kitchen. She had us sign in and fill out some forms. Then she let us pick out a locker to keep all of our stuff in. After that, we went into the room where we signed our forms for the delivery shift to pick out an apron, hat, and make a name card. She then had us help cut up all kinds of vegetables for vegetable soup medley they were making. I was excited to practice my knife skills since I use them often in the DU Grilling Society. We began by cutting broccoli, then cauliflower, and then finally onions. They were about six of us total who were cutting vegetables. They guy next to me seemed quite nice and made a few comments about how he used to listen to Led Zeppelin all the time when he was younger, since we were listening to them on the radio for a while. The majority of the time, we listened to one of the workers mixtapes which was full of 90s popular dance songs that I hadn't heard in ages and didn't particularly have a taste for. We must of listened to the cd 3 full times and by the end I was about ready to destroy it. Other than the repetitive music I found the cutting rather calming and I enjoyed it. At one point Summer came over to show me how to properly cut an onion. She used a claw-like style that I had never been shown before and I thought it was nice of her to show me that (even if it was mainly because she was afraid I was going to cut my thumb off).
After we finished cutting all of the vegetables we helped clean up. Summer started by having Emily and I go into the freezer to clean off of the food carts. She assured us not to worry about getting stuck inside and told us that there was a button you could press to let you out from the inside. I found this interesting since I had just watched a show the other day where a guy was killed in a similar freezer because he got locked inside. After we completed that, we helped sweep the floor. We ended up signing out and leaving at around 7:30. It didn't take as long as I had expected but I think that was because so many people were there.
Overall, I enjoyed my kitchen shift a whole lot more than the driving. I think this was because I felt like I was actually doing something more involving than simply dropping off a package of food. I noticed while I was there how much thought is put into making these meals. One of my favorite parts was when I looked at the schedule of meals they had on one of the walls and saw that they were doing a special easter meal for their clients. This was the first time I have done service like this before. I enjoyed it a lot and I think what PAH does is a very unique and important thing. Before this class, I had never realized how many people, regardless of their economic status, can not provide themselves with meals everyday—something simple, yet essential to life. I would be interested to see if other similar organizations exist in most other states or if this is something that is unique to Colorado.
Driving
ReplyDeleteWe showed up at Project Angel Heart to pick up our food and were given papers to sign in the conference room. We moved into the room, signed our forms and waited to be lectured on the rules and regulations associated with driving food around to Project Angel Heart clients. Once the lecture came, complete with a joke about college students being prone to hangovers, we turned our papers back and proceeded to wait to be assigned a route. Once we got or route they brought us a cart of food to load into our car, we did so and then ran into our first pitfall. We didn’t know where we were going. After analyzing the map for a few minutes, we decided that it would be best to ask someone for directions. Unfortunately we had not had the best interpersonal relations with some of the staff, who we thought to be, on more than one occasion, rude and short with us. We decided instead to call my mom to ask her to look up directions from were we were to an intersection nearby the first house. Once we had directions to a point within the map given, we were able to find the houses and apartments housing the clients to whom we were to deliver. Once we were at the first client’s residence, I pulled the car up along the street and Leah and Steffi entered the apartment in which the client lived. I remained in the car to look ahead at where we were to deliver next, and the girls returned quickly, having delivered the food. After that we navigated to the next house, where we could pull into the driveway. We did so and a kind older woman stepped out of the house to collect her food. She spoke to us in her driveway for a minute about her dogs before collecting her food and returning inside. After we completed her delivery we navigated to our next three locations, all in a group of duplexes neighboring each other. I delivered one man’s meals while Steffi and Leah took care of the other ones before we got back to the car. Our final delivery was to another apartment complex. Upon entering Steffi and Leah found a note telling them to take the food somewhere around the side (I remained in the car for this delivery, as well) and they proceeded to deliver the food. Then they returned to the car and we drove back to DU.
Kitchen Work
When we arrived at Project Angel Heart, We were not sure where to go. We walked around the office space to which the front door opens and finally found someone to direct to the woman we were supposed to meet. We overlooked her at first because she was on a phone call, but she soon rose to help us out. At once she led us into the kitchen. Before we could actually make the food we were forced to put on head coverings (which turned out, for me, to be a red bandanna) and then led us over to a sink where we were instructed to wash our hands and not touch anything before we got to the food. Then we made it over to the prep area of the kitchen and were taught how to properly proportion and package the meals. We first had to pour orange chorizo soup into plastic containers and then put them on crates to be stacked and subsequently placed in the freezer. Then there came desserts. After doing much the same thing with some cake and pudding that was done with the soup, we had to cut a whole cake or other pastry out from the container it had been cooked in and then portion it out. Afterward, we laid out long strips of plastic wrap along the table, put the dessert pieces on them, and proceeded to cut the plastic wrap in between the desserts in order to wrap them up. We did this with the desserts for a good while before we were done for the day. Following this, we helped the PAH staff clean up, then we talked to them for a short while about working with PAH before we left. For much of the time we spent at PAH the general consensus among Steffi, Leah, and I was the PAH staff isn’t very nice. The Executive Sous Chef Summer kept calling us “kids” and poked fun at the age of some of the songs on the radio (a stereo in the kitchen was playing 95.7, a self-proclaimed “party station”). Things improved after all the hard work was done, though. Summer showed us how to flip food in a frying pan, and was kinder now that we weren’t working with food. During my exchange with Summer, she mentioned that she had a brother named Joshua and I noticed that her last name was Polson. I asked her what school her brother graduated from and she said, “Falcon,” which was the name of the high school from which I had graduated. In a story that ought to end with a bemused “small world,” it turns out that her brother had graduated the year before me. During my junior year, I attended prom with a few friends, Josh Polson, and his then-girlfriend Ali Bornhoft who, in yet another twist of events is the only other student from my high school to attend DU in both of our graduating classes. Fun facts.
Kitchen Shift
ReplyDeleteI did my volunteer shift on Tuesday, April 7. We were there for about two hours. I went with two of my friends in my hall since no one in the class signed up to go the same day as me. The bus ride there was really long so we thought we had missed our stop and we got off and had to wander around a little bit to find it. When we got there, one of the girls from my hall was sick so they said she couldn’t volunteer with us. I was a little nervous because of hearing about the others’ experiences that weren’t so good there. I wasn’t really looking forward to it because of these impressions. There were a few other people there, a woman and her two kids, a guy about my age, and some adults who were cutting up meat. Most of the people were very quiet and didn’t talk to each other much. Whenever we had contact with someone who worked there or volunteered there, it was pleasant though. Nobody was rude or talked down to us. Once we got started, it felt like we fit right in and it was something we had been doing for awhile.
My friend and I grabbed aprons and bandanas, washed our hands, and put on gloves. We were in charge of ladling tomatoes and grits into containers that would not close. I ladled while my friend closed them because I could not close them at all. While we were doing this, we were working with Stephanie. She has been volunteering there for four or five months every other week. She got into it because she worked with food while she was in college and she wanted to find someplace to volunteer working with food. Then the three of us moved on to cutting tomatoes that were donated, which went by really quickly. The last thing we did was put matzoh balls, for Passover, into containers and then put broth in and package it up. The whole time we were working with Stephanie. During the night, Summer was calling us “team baby food” because the tomatoes and grits looked like baby food. We even got to try some of Summer’s cookies, which were absolutely delicious. I was surprised that we, first time volunteers, got to try some of the food. We finished everything, including cleaning, by 7:30 so we got out of there early. Overall, it was an enjoyable night with nice people and relatively easy jobs.
I don’t really feel like this volunteering impacted me that much. It honestly felt like it was just preparing food for a camp or something like that. It didn’t really feel like what we were doing was going to impact the people very much. It was enjoyable and something I would probably do again but I don’t feel like I grew at all because it is something I have done before. It was nice to meet some people who are interested in helping others, especially those with life-threatening illnesses but I never had a “wow” moment where I really felt accomplished. I don’t know if anything would have made me had an epiphany moment while working in the kitchen because it is one of those things where it is difficult to tell what the impact is since there is no actual contact with the clients. I remember hoping that the actual delivery would have more of an impact on me than making the food.
Delivery Shift
I did the delivery shift on Saturday, April 11 with Kelsey, Mary Kate, and Jenn. It took us only about an hour to delivery all of the meals so it was relatively quick. When we first got to Project Angel Heart, one of the volunteer ladies was very rude to us and did not treat us how she should have treated volunteers. My guess is that she did this because we are young, college students and she felt like we were not really interested in actually volunteering but more that we were forced to do it. Her attitude toward us kind of set my initial mood for the day and I almost walked out right away because of her. It was frustrating to be met with that kind of perception when we were trying to do something for the community. Our experience with her would make me think twice about volunteering there again. I enjoyed the actual delivery but I did not enjoy working with the people at Project Angel Heart, at least that day.
After we read and signed the sheets, we got our meals and our routes. Since I was sitting in the front seat, I got the job of navigating. We decided to start with the farthest house and work our way back toward Project Angel Heart. I was very nervous for the first house because I was not sure what to expect. I didn’t know if this person was going to need help with the food or what kind of condition they would be in. Kelsey and I delivered to the first house and it went smoothly and the lady was very nice. After that, we alternated between two people delivering meals. We had one house that didn’t answer the door so we had to call PAH and leave a message. Overall, the people were very nice and they seemed surprised and excited that so many young people were delivering their food. One lady opened her door and got the biggest smile on her face when she saw all of us standing there. All of the people wished us a Happy Easter since it was the day before Easter and to have a very good day. It all went smoothly, we didn’t get lost, and everyone was very grateful.
I definitely liked this part more than the kitchen delivery. I was more nervous at first but overall, this was a more rewarding experience. I got to see how our actions were actually helping people in the community. All of the people were very polite and seemed genuinely happy when they could easily have been grumpy and hostile because of the condition they are in. This made the entire thing worthwhile. The clients’ attitudes helped me realize that these life-threatening diseases do not completely determine how each person lives. It is just something that they have been diagnosed with and are learning to live with.
I think this was a very good experience for me because it just me in a situation where I was somewhat uncomfortable at first but I realized that it was something that was extremely beneficial to my perception as well as overall beneficial to the people who we were delivering the meals to. Their attitudes and their gratefulness for what we were doing were tremendous and really helped me appreciate the things I have in my life. I also appreciate the fact that there are organizations like this that work to better the lives of those dealing with life-threatening illnesses and those who are dependent on them.
I completed my delivery shift on April 4 with Emily and Kathryn. We arrived at Project Angel Heart at 12:45pm, left by 1:00, and finished our last delivery at 1:40; this was a surprise since we thought that one shift lasts two to three hours. Most of the deliveries were pretty standard – we knocked, and the client answered the door, took the bag, and said “thank you.” Only one of the clients did not answer his door, so we left the food on his porch and called PAH. The phone number we were given did not belong to PAH anymore, so we called the 800 number and asked to be connected to the correct line. One of the houses received five bags (we think this may be why our shift did not last long); three older children took the bags from us. I wondered what kind of situation made it so that five people in one household got meals from PAH. After all, we had delivered food to another home where a child accompanied the adult to the door, but they only received one bag. The last woman whom we visited stands out most in my mind. Of all of the clients we visited she appeared the most sick, but that is not to say that she looked particularly sick. She appeared tired and her eyes were sunken, and she had a breathing tube in her nose. Still, she seemed relatively healthy and answered the door with a loud, pleasant greeting. She was much more talkative than all the others we visited, and she chatted with us for a few moments about the weather before telling us to stay warm as she wished us goodbye.
ReplyDeleteAlthough she appeared the most sick, this woman was also the most joyful of those we visited. It seemed that she cherished the life that she had, and seeing us at the door brought a smile to her face. This fits some of the romanticized ideas of illness that we have discussed in class; society assumes that people who are ill cherish life more and take less for granted because they know their time is limited. Whether this woman’s cheery disposition was a direct product of her life-threatening condition I cannot know, but I know that our brief interaction brightened my day. The fact that we received an incorrect phone number was a bit frustrating, a reminder of the occasional lack of organization that takes place in any business, but stereotypically more often in nonprofits. Volunteers feel like they are doing something for the organization and that the organization should make it easy for them. For this reason, it is important for nonprofits in particular to have as few mistakes as possible, and any mistakes may receive more criticism than in other fields of work. Because I want to work in nonprofits, this is a valuable piece of information. Although the work is stressful, I feel that doing this work is important. Knowing that I am making a difference for people, such as the woman discussed above, makes everything else worth the while.
I went to my kitchen shift alone on April 13. I caught the bus at 4:00pm and was at Project Angel Heart at 4:45. I was introduced to Summer, the head chef for the evening shift, and she put me to work right away slicing cakes. After a few minutes, another woman showed up and began wrapping the cake slices to be put in meal bags. Almost two hours later, I had finished slicing all of the donated cakes and developed a small blister on my cake-cutting hand. I helped the other woman wrap the remaining cake slices, wiped a couple tables and swept up, and was waiting at the bus stop before I knew it. Other than asking a few basic questions and saying hello, I did not really talk to others much while I was there. Everyone seemed very friendly and did not do or say anything rude (as some other students experienced), but most of the people near me just went about their work silently. The whole time, there was loud music playing, which created a comfortable, fun working environment.
This experience reinforced my knowledge that sometimes, work like this can be mindless, long and repetitive. Looking ahead to a potential career in nonprofit work, I was already aware of this fact, and I really do not mind these sorts of tasks. Whether I could settle for that kind of work and only that kind of work for the rest of my life has yet to be determined, but I know that there is more to do in nonprofit work, as well. Through my experience slicing cakes, I realized how very important it is to be aware of certain food allergies (particularly those to nuts) and cross-contamination involving these products when mass-producing food. I am not sure when I will use this particular piece of knowledge again, but I suppose it cannot hurt to be aware of it. As I was wrapping some of the last pieces of cake, I tried to think of where the desserts would end up. I tried to remember the people to whom I had delivered meals and to imagine them receiving and eating the cake. Playing the scene out in my mind really did not make the work seem any more meaningful. I think I knew from the beginning that what I was doing was making a difference but would not alter anyone’s life dramatically, and that did not really change. Still, I do not think the experience was a waste of time. I mean, really, who does not smile when they open their meal and find a piece of cake?
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ReplyDeletePart 1: Delivery
ReplyDeleteMy first project for Project Angel Heart was meal delivery. I met with Kathryn and Jenna on Saturday morning before I drove the three of us from DU to the Project Angel Heart kitchen. After becoming slightly lost on the way there, we found the warehouse building, and wondered what exactly we were supposed to do next. There were two intimidating entrances. After randomly choosing one and venturing through it, we were greeted with the pleasant words, “You must be from DU!”
“Yes,” we told the smiling woman in front of us.
“You're in Geoffrey's class?”
“That's us.”
“Great, now would you guys just sign in here? Then you can step into this room over here,” She gestured to a door at the side of the room, “And I'll show you what to do next.”
Suddenly, the intimidation level had sunk considerably. This didn't seem quite so bad after all. We signed in. We read over and initialed a legal document. We received detailed instructions, and I was given a map and a list of names.
As the woman continued to recite instructions and other important information for us, I glanced at the map. I've grown up in Denver, and I'm fairly familiar with its layout. I've prided myself on my “street smarts” for the past two years.
But this was different. These streets made absolutely no sense. I had never heard of them in my life. I then remembered that the Project Angel Heart woman was talking to us, and I realized suddenly that in my worry over the map, I had missed a good amount of seemingly important words that she had just said. I hoped that Kathryn and Jenna were less panicked, and hopefully much more informed, than I was.
And then, quite suddenly, we were off. We were given a large collection of food-filled paper bags and I quickly became worried about how this delivery job was going to turn out. What was Project Angel Heart going to do when I failed on every single one of these deliveries? What were the meal recipients going to go when their food never came, thanks to that awful incompetent driver from DU? Was the company going to hate me forever for bringing about their downfall?
I began to calm down, though, when I stopped and talked to another volunteer on the way to my car. “Do you know where exactly this is?” I asked her. After discovering that our destination was about a 10 minute drive down I-70, I felt my confidence rebuilding. I loaded the meals in the car with Kathryn and Jenna, grabbed my car keys, and set off.
To my amazement, the delivery process flowed quite smoothly. In all but one house, someone answered the door, we smiled, handed them their meal, and left. It seemed to easy to be true. We were done within an hour.
This was certainly a positive experience for me. For one thing, I enjoyed building relationships with two of my classmates. Additionally, I discovered that “volunteering” isn't such a daunting task as I've imagined. Obviously, it involves giving up one's time, but it can be in very simple ways. Driving around Denver did not demand an extraordinary amount of skill or energy from me. However, this doesn't mean that my job wasn't important. I absolutely felt like I was accomplishing something; though small, my actions had a direct, positive effect on someone else. This project wasn't a huge homework assignment I had to tackle, and it wasn't an extremely confusing or demanding task. It wasn't a test I had to pass, or even something I had to be scared of destroying. Quite simply, I did something nice for someone else. Perhaps I should try that more often.
Part 2: Kitchen Shift
My second project with Project Angel Heart, meal preparation, was distinctly different from my delivery shift, but it was equally interesting. I partnered with Sean McNiff to venture yet again to Project Angel Heart on a Monday night. I was less nervous this time--I had a better idea what PAH did and what they looked like.
As we stepped into the seemingly empty kitchen, we wondered what we were supposed to do next. We stood around for a couple seconds, looking for someone to tell us what to do. We took a few steps further into the kitchen. “Hey!” a young woman shouted towards us. Smiling, she gestured, “Come on back here.”
She introduced herself as Summer, we signed in, and fitted ourselves with aprons and hats. We washed our hands and were then each given a large green cutting board, which we placed on a long metal table. I was surprisingly excited about this shift. I liked the look and feel of this kitchen. I personally don't cook very often, but when I do, I love it. I find something calming about working with food.
On the table was a gigantic box of broccoli. Summer gave us each large knives and showed us how to cut the broccoli into florets. And so we began, chopping the largest selection of vegetables that I have ever encountered. As we did this, we made occasional light conversation with four other volunteers at the table.
After a while, my hand started to cramp. This task seemed silly, but I was focused on it. Chopping broccoli seems like quite a boring activity, especially when it happens over an extended period of time. I'll admit -- it is. Though mundane, I knew this task was necessary. And so I kept going.
When we finally -- at last! -- finished the broccoli, we were given a monstrous box of cauliflower and told to to do same thing--chop it into florets. Cauliflower was considerably tougher and harder to cut than broccoli. But we pushed forward. My hand started to hurt even more.
Finally, we finished that. I was scared by what the cooks placed in front of us next -- a sack of onions the size of a six-year-old. Into mincing my second onion, my eyes started watering. Then, they stung. Several seconds later, I had to turn away, squeezing my eyes shut, willing the pain to leave.
By that point, I was ready to switch back to broccoli. But I continued, and this happened throughout the entire onion process. When all the teary-eyed volunteers finished the onions,we started cleaning up. We wiped down the tables and swept and mopped the floor. After throwing our aprons int a clothes hamper, we signed out and headed back to DU.
Though slightly painful, with aching hands and burning eyes, this kitchen shift experience was a positive one. I was surprised at the friendliness of all the folks at Project Angel Heart. The way some of my classmates had talked about them, I'd imagined them as pushy, heartless commanders. But they were quite pleasant. I enjoyed their company. It was also nice chatting with other volunteers--I met another college student from Johnson and Wales who was also at PAH for a class.
Moreover, I learned more about PAH's function. I decided, somewhere in the midst of the extensive vegetable process, that this organization was really quite amazing. It started at something quite small--just an idea to do a nice thing for someone else -- and now it's a growing organization with a lovely, fully functional kitchen. Founded on compassion and kindness, I find Project Angel Heart a very pleasant place to be.
Kitchen Shift
ReplyDeleteOn early Monday evening, the 30th of March, Kelly, Jen and I all set out to Project Angel Heart for our kitchen shift. After a long bus ride, and a short, cold walk through an area very obviously industrial, we reached the Project Angel Heart building, and gladly entered the warm kitchen.
As a Project Angel Heart expert (I had done once before, after all), I knew what was coming, and sure enough, immediately after a brief introduction as to who we were, Kelly, Jen and I were all led to the back room for some kerchiefs. Yet after adorning the adorably old red and blue hair covers, instead of proceeding directly to the chopping, scooping, and scrubbing I assumed awaited us, we were led to a back office room and instructed to sort, count, and bag.
So, for the first hour of our “kitchen” shift, Jen, Kelly and I organized material for volunteers for Project Angel Heart’s annual fundraiser, Dining out for Life. We counted pens into groups of ten, envelopes into groups of 100 and a variety of fliers into groups of 5 and 20. Then we put one of each into a blue bag. The work was not horrible, and I enjoyed talking to Kelly and Jen, but I was a little upset at having to do office work rather that the work in the kitchen, with the food, that I was meant to do. After an hour or so of such activity we finished all the work set aside for us and headed into the kitchen.
Finally in the kitchen component of our kitchen shift, Kelly, Jen and I worked on packaging desserts. Following the assembly line model we established with the Dining out for Life material, Jen scooped the sweet potato filling into plastic containers, Kelly sprinkled the filling with crumbled Girl Scout cookies, and I closed and stacked the containers. It was, altogether, very much like the office work we did the first hour or so, though it did smell better, of course. The work was monotonous, the conversation was good, and the time passed relatively quickly. However, I found, for some reason, that I enjoyed working in the kitchen more than in the back room.
After completing the “kitchen shift”, both the office part and the actual kitchen part, I thought about why I enjoyed the kitchen shift more. It was not more rewarding, in the humanitarian sense. Yes, there were more participants, and I was able to talk to more people in Project Angel Heart. But I don’t think that is why I liked it more; for if my goal was to merely learn more about the organization, then surely reading all the material for the Dining out for Life volunteers would have been much more informative than small talk with volunteers.
I think I was disappointed with the office component of my kitchen shift because it simply did not fit into the title ascribed to the volunteer time. The office work was no less rewarding, no less amusing and no less entertaining than the kitchen work; it ultimately was just not the work I expected. With volunteering, I think, we (at least I do) often go in to the situation with an attitude of self-sacrifice, yet we choose what we give and what we do. When we no longer get to choose the sacrifice, or choose the work, the work itself becomes less rewarding. With this Project Angel Heart kitchen shift, I think I saw more of my own motives in approaching volunteering. I was completely satisfied doing mundane labor in the kitchen, for it was a “kitchen” shift, and it was what I anticipated, what I signed up for. However, the moment the mundane labor became something I did not choose or expect it became much more difficult to find meaning in it (though the meaning was definitely there). This kitchen shift, mundane as its two parts were, showed me far more about volunteerism and myself than I would have ever guessed. I always imagined myself the eager do-gooder out to do good just to help. That may be true, but I think this kitchen shift showed me that I am only willing or eager to do “the good” I choose or “the good” I expect rather than “the good” that just needs to be done.
Delivery Shift
It was a bright Saturday afternoon when Kelsey, Jen, Anya and I met at noon to drive to Project Angel Heart for our volunteer delivery shift. Thanks to Anya’s fantastic map-reading abilities, the four of us were quickly at Project Angel Heart.
At Project Angel Heart, after some confusion as to the purpose and preparation of our presence, a brief over-view of volunteer etiquette, and a short exchange of brown bags and a route sheet, we were soon on our way.
The route we were given was relatively short, and it took only around an hour and a half to deliver all the meals. Just as the route I had delivered last quarter was comprised of vastly different clients, this route’s clients seemed rather different also (the clients I delivered bags to personally, at least).
The first of my deliveries was with Jen to an elderly woman. The woman took a long time to answer her door, and her dog, though small, made it difficult to hand the bag across the threshold. My second personal delivery, with Anya, was to a married couple who lived in an old brick house. The couple did not answer their door, so Anya and I left the bags with a note on the porch, as instructed. The third of my deliveries was again with Jen to an elderly Hispanic woman who lived in the back of a house enclosed with a wrought-iron fence. The fourth, which we all helped with, was to two women in the same retirement complex. The first woman was waiting outside for us, and the second was in her apartment. The last delivery I made was with Jen to a middle-aged man who lived in a beautiful Victorian brick home near the retirement community with his two huge dogs. Though none of the clients were frightening, (they were all very nice) the dogs certainly were.
While this was the second delivery shift I have done for Project Angel Heart, and it is the only type of volunteer shift that has with direct contact with clients, I did not find it more rewarding than the other shifts. The process of handing over bags is so small that a moment of epiphany is difficult to reach with it. I enjoyed seeing the different clients and connecting faces to the food I helped prepare in some way; however, ultimately, I think, the act of volunteering is very rarely emotionally rewarding. The reward, if there is any, is often a result of our own constructions, as I learned with my most recent kitchen shift and my utter lack of reward with the office work. Certainly, everyone involved in the delivery process must be aware that what is happening is good and needed, but the concentration is not on that. The clients we handed the bags to did not make a fuss of thanking us, and it was more like a simple delivery of recently craved and ordered Chinese food (minus the tip) rather than a much needed delivery of nutritional meals. Thus, with this delivery shift, I was glad things went smoothly, and I was happy to drive around on such a beautiful Saturday, but the act of handing over bags did not make much of an impression on me or my thoughts of volunteerism.
We arrived at Project Angel Heart a few minutes early. Kelly, Mary Kate, and myself walked in the front doors and were greeted by cubicles. Not entirely sure where we were supposed to go, we wandered uncertainly towards the kitchen. Summer and the volunteer coordinator greeted us and talked amongst themselves, presumably deciding what our first task should be. It was clear that we were a earlier than expected because there were no other volunteers in the kitchen yet, nor was there a course of action set out for us. The volunteer coordinator finally broke off with Summer and showed us to the aprons and bandanas, such an attractive combination. She waited patiently while we got suited up and ready to do some time in the kitchen. Bandanas tied, and grandma-style aprons donned, there was a sudden change in the coordinator’s mind. She swiftly led us over to a back room that was stuffed full of pretty plastic bags. She explained what Dining Out For Life was, told us our task, and then returned to her desk. She left us to take a set of pens and brochures out of what must have been hundreds of bags. We got right to work, talking quietly to each other. Current life styles and future life goals and potential majors at DU were discussed. Being exiled to the Siberia-esque back corner of Project Angel Heart proved to be a bonding experience for the three of us.
ReplyDeleteWe finished taking out the extra components of the bags, and then reported back to the coordinator. She came back to the room and showed us an entirely new set of bags that had been lurking under the tables. These bags were not full enough and needed a set of two different brochures each. We stuffed the bags quickly only to find out that there were completely empty plastic bags that needed to be loaded up. We rapidly stuffed the bags, in an assembly line that would have made even the most efficient of factories proud.
Finally done with the room full of plastic bags, we got to relocate to the kitchen and put our beautiful aprons and bandanas to use. We washed our hands, were given delicious cookies to sample, and then got right to work. Desserts. What a wonderful job. Again we formed an assembly line. I scooped sweet potatoes, with an ice cream scooper, Kelly put the tasty smelling crumbs on top of the ice cream scoops of potato, and Mary Kate struggled to close the containers which proved to be shockingly difficult until one got the hang of it. We quickly finished the “sweet potato pies” and moved on to some gourmet looking pears. Again, an ice cream scooper was used to shovel the pears into plastic containers, crumbs were loaded on, and the containers were closed and set aside to wait for distribution to clients. Everything smelled and looked deluxe. All the while we were chatting between the three of us and the two men working on desserts across the table from us. One of them had been volunteering for PAH for over a year, and it was his last day. The other man was almost as new as us and was completing only his second day of volunteering. Eventually we finished scooping and crumbing and closing and quickly sampled our creations, eating extra pears off the table and adding a crumble or two here and there. At that moment there was no doubt that we would have loved to receive such meals from Project Angel Heart.
We finished with the food and then got to sweeping the entire kitchen and walk-in refrigerator. We finished quickly and were thanked for our time. We said our goodbyes and left.
Initially, I was not thrilled about volunteering, and I was a little nervous. Last quarter I was nervous about volunteering because it was something new and I had no idea what to expect. This time around I was nervous in a different way. It was more that I was anticipating boredom and a nearly exact repeat of last time. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Not only was it different, we were given more entertaining and rewarding tasks than simply putting endless pitas in plastic bags. All around, this volunteer shift exceeded my expectations.
The delivery shift got off to a rough start. Kelsey, Anya, Mary Kate and myself drove to Project Angel Heart. It was wonderfully sunny and warm outside. We pulled up in front of the warehouse that is Project Angel Heart and parked. We filed out of Kelsey’s Honda Civic, clown car style. We walked into the kitchen only to be greeted by a rather unfriendly woman. She made it clear that she was in no way excited to see us. At first she refused to acknowledge that we had scheduled a delivery shift. There was already a group from DU present, so there was no way there could be another group from the same place, or so she thought. Finally, after telling her our names and Geoffrey Bateman’s name she decided to give us a list, only somewhat grudgingly.
ReplyDeleteShe led us into the little side room to sign some sheets and hear the very strict directions that the organization had involving delivering food. We sat and listened patiently. The unwelcoming woman who had greeted us was doing well giving us our instructions until she made a comment about hangovers and the correlation to our status as DU students. This comment merited frowns from many, but not all, and some extra hostility towards the woman. However, she finished her speech, thanked us for giving our time, wished us a “Happy Easter” and sent us out on the streets of Denver to give people their food.
We left Project Angel Heart slightly bothered by the woman’s attitude towards us. But we quickly got over it and planned out our route. The first house was shockingly close to our starting point. We pulled up to a cute brick house with a nice lawn. Kelsey and Anya got out of the car with great enthusiasm and carried the food up to the front door of the house. They returned to the car in no time. We continued to house number two. Mary Kate and I climbed awkwardly out of the back seat of the two-door car and gathered the necessary bag. We rang the doorbell and waited for the door to open. We heard what sounded, and later proved to be, a tiny dog and some shuffling and a shout proclaiming they would be there in one minute. The door opened and a friendly, older woman opened the door. We handed her the bag and a handle promptly broke nearly sending the bag flying to the ground but somehow it was caught mid fall. Despite the bag mishap, she thanked us and then receded back into her house.
The day more or less continued in this manner. Lots of doorbells and lots of friendly recipients. Most of the houses were quaint, with cute lawns, and nice front porches. At one such house nobody came to answer the door. We ended up leaving the meals with a reminder note and calling PAH to report a failed delivery. Another delivery was to an apartment building where two clients lived. One of the clients was waiting outside for us. She greeted all four of us and took her two bags. She thanked us quite a lot and wished us a Happy Easter many times. When we went up the elevator and on to the second client, a door opened and presented an equally friendly and welcoming woman. Another one of the houses was a pretty, red brick house on a dead end. There was a wrought iron gate, the instructions on the delivery sheet said to use the buzzer and the man would come and open it for us. However, the gate was open, so when we rang the buzzer two large dogs came running out of the front door to meet us followed by a nice man who kindly took the food and told us about his dogs.
All things considered, it was a good day. Having done this last quarter, I was not overly thrilled at the thought of having to put in two hours to complete a very repetitive assignment. However, this day brought some new things, such as an angry volunteer teacher, an empty house, and friendly dogs. After my service was completed and we were nearing the DU campus I was able to look back on the day with satisfaction.