Young Adult Week Day One: Food Collecting

Today was the first day of Agape and what a day it was! We dedicated our entire day to collecting non-perishable food items for the food bank that we will be putting on later this week. We did a walking food drive in a neighborhood near the church we are staying at, and we collected food at a couple of grocery stores in Bellingham. For me, both of these tasks pushed me well outside of my comfort zone. However, standing outside the grocery store posed a greater struggle for me. How many times have we ourselves seen groups standing outside asking for donations for their various organizations? If you're anything like me, you've walked right on by without giving them a second thought. Now that I had to be the person behind the flyers, it helped me see just how much strength and courage it takes to ask strangers for help. In the beginning, I felt awkward and shy handing out the slips with suggested food items to people that I had never met. I didn't want to inconvenience them or have them get angry with me for interrupting their day. I expressed my timidness to one of the other girls at the same store as me and she said something that made me rethink the entire process of asking people for donations. She told me to think of the kids that I've met from migrant worker families when I handed someone a slip. She said to think about how giving out that one flyer just might allow for one of those kids to have a second bowl of cereal for breakfast or a second helping for dinner. She explained that if I put aside my own fears and worries, and focused my thoughts on the bigger picture of why we were there in the first place, it would make handing out those slips all the more easier. Once she said this, it was like a switch had been flipped in me. I was less hesitant about speaking up and asking people for donations. By the end of our time at the grocery store, I was amazed at how much we had been given. We filled three and a half carts with food at one grocery store alone! I was overwhelmed by the kindness of the people who donated and I cannot wait to see the faces of the families that come through the food bank when they see all of the food laid out before them.
Today has reminded me that it is good to step outside of your comfort zone to help those who need it most. Allowing yourself to be an advocate for those who don't have a voice will cause others to take notice, and perhaps inspire them to do something themselves to help the poor and forgotten.
-Bridget