By: Hannah King
The first club I joined on campus, as a freshman, was Habitat for Humanity. I wanted to join this club because I have always been passionate about giving back to the community. This began when my mom dragged me along to volunteer at community development events for her work. At first I dreaded going to them, but somewhere along the way, I began to enjoy it. My enjoyment was first due to the free food, but then I began to actually enjoy helping in my community.
For the past 3 years, the Habitat for Humanity Club at Lasell has provided me with a chance to give back to my new community in the Greater Boston area. There have been a variety of community development events I have participated in since joining the club, such as assisting at playground builds, participating in Habitat-sponsored house builds, helping out at the Habitat Re-Store, and (my personal favorite) preparing and serving lunch at Father Bill’s. Father Bill’s is a homeless shelter located in Quincy that is dedicated to ending homelessness and helping the homeless within the Southeastern region of Massachusetts. Every time I have prepared and served lunch at Father Bill’s I have been astonished by how far a simple act of kindness can go in impacting the lives of others.
While arriving at Father Bill’s, we are always greeted by the shelter’s visitors with “Thank you so much for being here today. It truly means a lot.”; All this and we haven’t even done anything except show up! For those who attend lunch at Father Bill’s it is the fact that we considered taking time out of our Sunday to be there with them means the world. The “Thank You’s” do not stop there. While we prepare the meal in the kitchen, those who didn’t get to say thank you when we arrived pop their heads in to show their appreciation. We get even more praises of gratitude when we serve them their meals. When we ask if they want veggies or chicken, they respond with: “Yes, thank you so much for being here today.” Finally, when we leave we get one final round of thank you’s for being there and making them a delicious meal.
It is not only those who attend lunch at Father Bill’s that are appreciative of the time we spend preparing and serving meals. Karen and Yolanda, who are in charge of the kitchen at the shelter, always express their gratitude for us taking the time to help them. These “thank you’s” happen from the moment we walk into the kitchen to the moment we leave.
While the act of preparing and serving a meal for two hours seems simple and miniscule, it means the world to those who go hungry for days on end. It even means the world for those who have to prepare and serve three meals a day to crowds of nearly fifty people. It is simple acts of kindness like volunteering at a local shelter that can help make another’s life a little easier.
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