Thanksgiving A Rewarding Experience

Many times I have collected food, supplies, clothes, and toiletries for the homeless but never actually helped in delivering them. This year I was with the Knit and Crochet group from the Mt. Juliet Senior Center. It was rewarding to visit the Help Center in Mt. Juliet, Tn. to take warm gloves and hats. The organization operates with all volunteers. In the front, there is a large room where anyone can come in and get food and clothing. Another room at the Help Center houses shelves full of imperishable food bins of fresh produce and two large freezers of food products that are donated. Volunteers package all the boxes that are to be distributed to people who come in and for delivery to the distribution points. Mt. Juliet Senior Activity Center is a distribution point every 2^ND Thursday of the month. It is called 2^ND Harvest.

On Thanksgiving Day my daughter, two friends and I joined the Gobble -Gobble Give program in downtown Nashville. A restaurant in the middle downtown closed down their restaurant and parking lot to provide space for the event to serve the homeless with a meal, clothing, shoes, hats, gloves, scarves, and hand warmers. One friend served on the line packing the Thanksgiving meals and another drove to deliver the meals and bags of items to the homeless out and about the city. Outside the restaurant, tables were set up for an assembly line to receive and sort the donations that came in. Bags of items were packed and carried to the volunteer drivers cars for delivery along with the food.

My daughter and I served at the table bagging toiletries, socks, and gloves. We also aided the people who walked in for help. Sections in the parking lot were set up for men’s clothing, and women’s clothing. A section for blankets and sleeping bags were set up. Another section was set up for children’s clothing and toys. The two sections inside for food and outside for needed items coordinated well to fill the volunteer drivers’ cars with packages to the homeless wherever they were found or they found us.

The most rewarding thing I found was how truly grateful the people we served were. They would not take anything they couldn’t use or try to hoard anything. All of the people my daughter and our friends served were polite and we did not encounter any rudeness. They smiled and said thank you.