A Helpful Day

Today was a rather interesting day for me. I learned a lot about hunger, but also solutions of hunger. Now, I'm not going to go into all of that, because I know it would bore plenty of people, however, I will post a link to the Danforth Plant Science Center for anyone who is interested in learning more. 

http://www.danforthcenter.org/
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Anyway, today was World Food Day of 2011, and so, for this special day, the center decided that they would package food to help fight hunger. We packaged soy, vegetables and rice into bags, and made sure that everything was ready to be sent away to the people who needed it most. We tried to package as much food as we could, for as many people as we could. For us, we did this mainly to beat everyone else at packaging, and try and produce as many bags as possible, but, while I was doing it, I thought about the people who would end up eating this meal, and how much they would appreciate it. 

Also, recently, I found out that my dad's friend's wife has cancer, and it's not looking very good for her. So, my dad set up something where we could pre-make meals for them, and their family, because they have two kids, and it's really hard on them to have to deal with her chemo, yet also needing to cook for the family. It wasn't exactly meant to be for World Food Day, but it tied in well. Everyone is scared, but in terms of her medical condition there isn't a whole lot we can do about it. But then I got to thinking about what else we could do...

There's always more to do. In any situation, there's always something that you can do to make people's lives easier, and sometimes, it doesn't even take longer than five minutes. Even the smallest things could be helpful.

So, to those who want some advice on what to do, here's a list that you can use to help you.

1. Explore your community: There's always someone who could benefit from your help in your own community. Chances are, there's going to be someone who could use your help. If you want to get involved, take a look around your own community, and try to fnd if there is someone who really needs the help.

2. Do some research: Do a quick internet search of charity organizations in your area, and try and find our how you can volunteer there. Who knows? Maybe you'll find an organization that you really like.

3. Get people to help out: One thing that my dad did, was he got a group of friends to help today, which made things go efficiently, but it also made it a lot more fun. When there's other people with you, more work gets done, and it makes doing the work better, because you are helping out, yet having fun at the same time.

Hopefully, this list has helped you. If you have any other ideas, or you want to post your World Food Day stories, or stories of volumteer work in general, feel free to post a comment.