3rd Service Learning Reflection

I have had the opportunity to attend to gleaning trips, as well as, an orientation and a tour giving me a total of 13 hours thus far. During the gleaning trips we conjured up almost 6,000 pounds of apples, a large crate of cabbage, and a large crate of pumpkins together weighing in at almost another 1,000 pounds. The morning of the first gleaning trip I was excited and I arrived at the meeting spot about 30 minutes early. The first gleaning trip seemed foreboding because the weather was freezing, but as the day progressed the weather became warmer. Not all of the participants that signed up, showed up, but even with the lack of people we managed to finish an hour early and fill all the boxes available. During the second gleaning trip we had twice as many participants and more boxes to fill. The weather was definitely colder, but many of us kept working and making this a fun experience to get past the idea of working in the cold on a Saturday. It was crazy to pick up apples that weren't being sold in stores because many of the apples seemed in perfect condition and these apples were being sent to food banks in town. These apples were going to families who might not be able to buy apples from the store. I am glad I got to help families who are starving in these hard times. I have been in that situation more than once were my only hope for dinner was stopping by the food bank. I know that service learning is more about others than yourself, but I can't help but feel good helping people whose shoes I have been in. Going in to service learning with this experience has made me want to do it that much more. I will say that it has been hard finding the time to go out and complete my service learning hours, but I am glad that I did managed to attend the two gleaning trips.