Amber Jones

I sorted through and cleaned up around the clothing racks. I cleared away trash and relocated misplaced items.

I arrived a little early since the weather was expected to get colder. I figured it would be a good opportunity to help out. Unfortunately, there were far fewer shoppers than usual. I was able to help clean more during the downtime.

I helped distribute mangoes and bread from the donated groceries. I also helped breaking down packages of meat into single serving packs for easy distribution to the public when they shop the food pantry. I arrived earlier so I could help out when it was busier during the first shift. It was nice to chat with more people and help them select from the available groceries.

The pantry is well-managed and had a good volunteer-to-public ratio while I was there. You can tell a great deal of care goes into the service the pantry provides. I helped make desserts and meat products available for patrons to choose from while they selected their groceries. I also helped bundle up various diaper sizes for quick distribution when needed in the future. It's a more relaxed helping atmosphere than I'm accustomed to since the public can select what they want from what is provided instead of being given prepared packages that may not be as useful. It was a pleasant experience to see people with less autonomy than others in most areas of their lives be granted the right to choose what personal products and foods they want. I'll need to work on being less aggressively helpful while there.