Dropping In For A Charity Experience

The un-glamorous reality

 

The phone rang at the Food Pantry last week, and I grabbed it, thinking it might be a client checking to see if we were open or if we had meat to give away that day (yes and yes).

No.  It was a mother asking about her 13-year old son volunteering at the Pantry over the holidays.

No, again.

I tried to be diplomatic. He's too young. We have a lot of volunteers right now.

Here's what I didn't say:   It would be more trouble training him for a few weeks than it's worth.

Also: Trying to give a kid a tiny taste of life in another socio-economic stratum is tourist-y.  If it's an on-going commitment, after school, every summer, every single holiday,  maybe the kid will absorb the experience and make it his own. But ordering it up so the kid will appreciate his own good fortune: Not a good idea.

A lot of work at the Food Pantry and other agencies is drudgery. Most newcomers aren't dealing with clients at all. Instead, they're in the back room filling plastic bags with rice, sorting through spoiled produce, and knocking down boxes. It'd be more like the kid cleaning up his room. Sometimes kids help pack bags for Thanksgiving, which can be very helpful. But they never get near the clients.

I wonder if I should mention that?