Here’s one of our fantastic walking delivery volunteers, speaking about her volunteering experience!

One thing that we really take for granted is access – access to education, access to clean water, and, most importantly, access to food. Imagine, however, that you did not have access to food. For some reason, you could not leave your house – what happens to you now? So many of us don’t realize how lucky we are – we are able to eat food almost whenever we want. Although, homebound people are not able to get food for many reasons. It could be an illness, a disability or something else entirely. One activity that has really meant a lot me is a program called God’s Love We Deliver, which is when volunteers bring meals to people who are not able to leave their homes. Every so often, my father and I carry bags of meals to different homebound people in the neighborhood. It’s really been important to me because it fills me with a sense of accomplishment, lets me brighten up someone’s day and allows me to be part of something bigger than myself.

            Being a part of God’s Love We Deliver is fulfilling for a number of reasons. First of all, I like to feel like I truly achieve something. It’s very rewarding to know that I helped somebody with something so important. Even though the meals we deliver are heavy and the weather can be unbearable, I still push through, knowing that without me, these people wouldn’t have anything to eat. I also enjoy this act of community service because it lets me help individual people. One woman I deliver food to, Irene, lights up when she sees me walk in the room. Irene is a small, elderly lady who has no living family members, but a very sharp memory. She is so sweet that she gives me little gifts when I come to see her. She has a severe type of cancer that makes her joints hard to use, so it really touches me that she makes the effort to walk from her apartment to the elevator to wait for me. Being even a small part of her life definitely is a gift. Lastly, God’s Love We Deliver makes me feel as though I am part of something huge. It gives me the feeling that I am part of a big effort to help the world, person by person. I am so glad to call myself a volunteer. They sacrifice their time and energy for others and ask for nothing in exchange. Helping the community and people like Irene gives me a feeling that is better than any salary.

            So as you can you can see, God’s Love We Deliver is a part of my life that I am very proud of. Although I haven’t done it more than a dozen times, it still fills me with a sense of accomplishment and pride from helping people who are really in need. Knowing that I am bringing these people something essential to their health and wellbeing makes me forget the terrible weather and the heavy loads. It really touches me to think when I am with them for just a few minutes, it is the highlight of their day. God’s Love We Deliver is a part of my life that is special to me and that I hope to participate in more often.