Dear Meera,

 

I started off my time at Friendship Trays with one goal in mind: I need to finish my service hours. But throughout my journey here, I’ve not only expanded my mindset of what this place offers but also created many lasting friendships. Starting on October 26th, I began volunteering at Friendship Trays every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. My duties were split into three different sections: preparation, cooking, and assembling. I was tasked with all three during my time as a volunteer. Prepping included cutting vegetables, helping gather the ingredients, and compartmentalizing them in groups prior to assembling them together to make each individual meal. Cooking not only included tasks such as steaming the vegetables or cooking the quinoa, but also simple tasks such as creating caramelized onions that could be used in sandwiches, wraps, and salads. Once all of the ingredients are prepared and brought together, it is time to assemble them into full meals. Being a perfectionist, I ensured that each and every meal was prepared to the best of standards and full of love. This was not only possible because of my mentors, but also because I was passionate about my duty. I enjoyed each day that I came in and volunteered. I have always had a passion for helping others as it made me feel like I am spending my time doing something useful. According my supervisors Tammy, Lani, and Jennifer, I was hardworking and resilient. I always put forth my best effort and never complained. They were always eager to see me every morning that I walked in. Jennifer was also quite impressed with my cutting skills as they were very precise. Fun fact, my favorite fruit to cut is an avocado. I also love working in group settings. I am able to be flexible based on who it is that I am working with. Due to this, my peers may believe that I am enthusiastic and always willing to help pick up other people's slack. There were several moments during my time volunteering here that had impacted me. Being able to volunteer with several different people and learning about all the different reasons that people were there was something that had impacted me the most. The ability to learn about other people and their culture plays a vital role in the integration of a society. Not only this, but accepting others that may be different from the way you were raised helps create a sense of acceptance and trust. I truly enjoyed working with one group specifically, the disabled teens from InReach, as they made me realize a valuable lesson: always smile and tackle each hardship with adversity, as there is always someone in the world that has it worse. Prior to volunteering here, I believed that this place would have only been like a soup kitchen. I never knew how many people were needed in order for this place to be as successful.  One of the challenges that I had faced would be having to prepare items with meat. This was tough for me as I never wanted to touch meat. Being a vegetarian due to my religion, Hinduism, I felt as though I was betraying my morals by touching meat products. Since I wasn’t being forced to consume any of the meat, I would not be breaking any personal ‘moral codes’ either and rather became more flexible with the idea. I was able to adjust and work in this new environment even though at first it had made me very uncomfortable. Overall, Meera always make sure to whole-heartedly approach all opportunities that you are ever presented with as you never know what you might get out of it. No experience is ever a bad experience as you will always learn something from it.

 

 

                                                                                     

                                                                                      Lots of love,

                                                                                      Meera Purohit