As citizens of any community, it is important to serve your community in order to gain insight. I personally had the opportunity to volunteer at the South Plains Food Bank located in Lubbock, Texas. The South Plain Food Bank, or SPFB, they do far more than provide those in need with canned goods. SPFB has been in their brand new building for a little less than a year. The new location includes a warehouse, but also a full-service industrial size kitchen, as well as offices, event space for non-profit organizations, and an orchard and garden. My task for the two days I volunteered was in this kitchen to help provide warm meals for children, the SPFB staff, and volunteers. The Food Bank has found often the meals provided by schools for underprivileged children are the only meals some children receive, leaving them hungry. During the school year, SPFB provides another meal for these children to make sure they are not going home hungry. In the summers under privileged children lose those 2 free meals so SPFB cooks a large hot meal, with all the food groups of course, at certain locations for these children.
I was tasked with food preparation, where I made salads and fruit trays, and clean up. The SPFB goes above and beyond to make sure their kitchen is sanitary 24/7. The employees of SPFB were extremely kind and trusting in my abilities to get the job done. The job that SPFB does, services not only Lubbock but the whole South Plains region. Food is essential for life but too many go without or with very little. SPFB is part of our 12 Commonwealth Key Assets by demonstrating foodshed, using their own garden and orchard produce as much as possible to feed the community. Volunteering at the South Plains Food Bank was a very gratifying experience and I am grateful that the SPFB team took me in as one of their own to show me the extremely positive work being done at their facility. The experience was so much more than my anticipation of move boxes in the storage room I got to help provide a hungry child with a meal, a thought that continues to bring a smile to my face.
