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COMMUNITY OUTREACH

4th Annual Summer Community Outreach Program
July 1 -2, 2010
 State of Connecticut

While most students went off for a vacation after school year ended, there were a group of selected High School students participated in Wrap 4 A Smile Foundation, Inc.'s 4th Community Outreach Program (COP). A delegation of student volunteers travelled to Waterbury, Connecticut to help the poor. They visited a soup kitchen and one of the largest homeless shelters in the Northeast on the first day, and Food bank, and community social services/ food pantry on the second day. The Wrap 4 A Smile Foundation, Inc. COP program provides the opportunity for youth to learn about life skills, helped others in need and made a difference in community. The following is a reflection of students' experiences in their own words:

On Thursday, July 1st, At the first site, Merriman Culinary School/St. Vincent De Paul Soup Kitchen, I prepared and served food to the poor and homeless. It’s definitely a whole new experience for me having to come across people like families and individuals who aren’t able to provide food for themselves. Some of the people that I served were very nice and polite, and others weren’t so charming, but all I had to do was have patience with them. There were 4 children that I saw at the soup kitchen from the ages 4 to 6 and an infant, and I felt so dreadful that their families don’t have enough money to provide food for them, but seeing that they were so happy and full of spirit eating their meal made me realize that even when someone has very little that they can still be happy, and there’s still a long way for them to grow up and learn from their experience for the better. This is something I’ll never forget and I’m grateful for having the opportunity to be part of this experience and helping those in need.
Written by Jessica and Jose Colindres

 
My time at Merriman Culinary School/Soup Kitchen was more than memorable. Before we got there I was not sure how much we would actually be able to help. We simply assisted in preparing lunches under the guidance of the Director of the soup kitchen and handing out each meal to the hungry. It seemed easy enough, but I recall needing to rush at certain times due to the overflow of new people looking for a bite to eat. I was amazed at how many we helped feed that day and remember seeing a few smiles. The Director asked they stay around since we had prizes to give them. Our team handed out bags that included a few items to eat, a pair of socks and a hygiene kit. I remember one woman thanking us for her goodie bag and said that it was a nice thing for us to do.

This was my first experience working at a soup kitchen and I felt sad to see so many people needing this meal. As we left for out next stop I saw the woman who thanked us for her goodie bag walking around the parking lot looking for items to place in her shopping cart. At that point I had a good feeling that we made a difference.
Written by Taylor Dreiss

At the second site, the student delegation headed to St.Vincent De Paul Mission Of Waterbury; Connecticut's largest homeless shelter. We supplied the shelter with new towels, socks, and hygiene kits. At the shelter we met with the shelter's deacon, Emil P. Croce, who shared his experiences of working at the shelter. Following his speech, we were given a tour of the facility. Emil and members of the staff gave us a tour of the living quarters, showers, and dining hall. We began our tour with a walk through the kitchen. All the food in the refrigerator was supplied by a local food bank. Next, we were led downstairs to the mens' showers. The shower facility consisted of about 4 shower heads in a small open area. Next was one of the many mens' sleeping areas which fit about 20 beds. In the shelter, men were kept seperate from women at all times. Women occupied the top floor while men took up the bottom floor. When we walked upstairs, the womens' quarters consisted of small rooms that held about 4 beds at a time. These rooms were reserved for women with children under the age of 18. If an entire family wanted to stay at the shelter, the woman and child would stay together upstairs, but the man would still have to stay downstairs. Finally we saw the single woman rooms and then with a warm and grateful goodbye from the deacon himself, we said our thanks and left.
Written by Eric Kosky, Cyrielle Cornelio and Allison Perricone

On Friday, July 2nd, we headed to the third place, the Connecticut Food Bank, where we brought with us canned veggies, rice, and mash potatoes, totaling 279 lbs. We entered and we were greeted by the receptionist in a room filled with computers and printers, but lurking behind this infrastructure of technology was a warehouse, with an array of donated goods, from the floor we were stepping on to the ceiling above us. This warehouse carried within it, a bank based on an economy of the import of selfless human contribution in exchange for a sense of bettering the community. We were amazed to see the amount of food the warehouse contained but to know it wasn’t enough to provide for all the families living in poverty in the state of Connecticut. We proceeded to help sort out the gracious donation from CVS into 3 categories; food, medication, and miscellaneous, totalled 10,000 lbs. Through this program, we witnessed first hand, the hard work it takes to provide the best possible accommodation for the needy. The Connecticut Food Bank taught us a lesson we will never forget.
Written by Henry Truong, and Danny Estrella.  

After an interesting morning of sorting donated foodstuffs and pharmaceutical paraphernalia at East Haven's Connecticut Food Bank, the Wrap 4 A Smile student volunteers delegation, carrying chartreuse bags stockpiled with toiletries, visited the Christian Community Action (CCA) located in New Haven. Boldly maroon and donned in playful murals, the CCA building is among hundreds of local destinations the Connecticut Food Bank supports and facilitates. The organization helps provide emergency food, housing and assistance for New Haven's underprivileged.

Following Executive Director Bonita Grubbs' heartfelt welcome, Wrap4ASmile donated its eighteen hygiene bags and learned about CCA's history, recent accomplishments and unrelenting commitment to eliminating homelessness, hunger and poverty. Since CCA's goals and initiatives were reminiscent of Wrap4ASmile's, everyone quickly understood the organization's importance and urgency. Stopping by CCA was therefore an educational experience wherein COP participants witnessed the tangible connection between the volunteering they've done and the social services they've benefited. Indeed, visiting CAA was the perfect conclusion to the exhausting albeit rewarding COP journey.
Written by Takeru Nagayoshi and Bonnie Wong

In closing, the Wrap 4 A Smile Foundation, Inc. COP student delegation would like to thank their family and the community for their supplies contribution and funding assistance to make this program a success.