volunteering at Siloam

this isn't us but, its the idea of what it looks like.

I went to Siloam Mission on Thursday. It. Was. Amazing!! I went with a few people with my school. When we got there we put on aprons and hair nets.. ( I never thought I would have to wear one of those  in my whole life :D ) and we went into the kitchen. We washed our hands and got right to work. The kitchen in Siloam was pretty big and there were several volunteers. One of the leaders in the kitchen sent me to the turkey. I had to cut, the all already cut, turkey to make sure there were no bones in it. I cut and cut and my knife got so dull but I kept going. I just kept thinking to myself that this wasn't for me, it was for them. Before I started cutting the turkey I was offered to wear gloves. I know this is silly, but I didn't want to wear the gloves because I wanted to get my hands dirty, and literally that happened... I finished one bin relatively quickly. I just continued cutting and picking through the turkey until they called us to serving line. There we each got assigned to a certain part of the meal and it proceeded like an assembly line. I served these chip things. It was amazing how friendly and polite these people were. They didn't have a choice in what they got, we served them what we had, and that is what they got. But they would say hi and ask how you were. They would say thank you and just little things I wouldn't have thought they would be like. But ya, we kept going and going until 1:30 ish and then we had to close it up. On Thursday, there apparently was half the amount that usually show. Usually both huge pots of soup are almost gone, and all the crackers are done, and they are rummaging up what they can find for whatever they are out of. But on Thursday there was only one pot empty and left over cheese and lots of others. I think I will be going back on Tuesday again. And I am looking forward to it.
getting a tour:
During my time at Siloam I also had the opportunity to take a tour of the Siloam building. Mrs. Neufeld wanted me to meet a lady named Lindsey, who I was told was a lot like me. Lindsey, when she was around my age, did outreach in inner city type things, and she also had the chance to go to Africa for a while. Lindsey said that, 'Yes it was an amazing opportunity, in Africa, but this kind of thing was happening in our own city. That there was help needed all around us.' She ended up staying and doing outreach in Winnipeg and later on ended up getting a job with Siloam.
Lindsey showed me around the building, the basement consists of all their supply of clothes, food, toiletries, and other little things like books. The clothes are all sorted by size, season, and gender. The food that is kept in a large freezer/fridge, and shelves, again all sorted and organized with expiry dates, ect. All their food, clothes, books, ect. is all donated.
Then on the top floor there is an exercise room and just an open floor. That is the room where we will be having ICE (Inner City Experience). There is a floor with all these beds, and tubs that people can but their belongings in over night. The majority of the floor is for men, and a small section for woman. Siloam's attendance is mostly men. There is another floor that is just offices, and then the main floor. Which has the kitchen and a large eating room. It also has an art room, and a phone.
During this tour I learned some things, and thought of things that I never would have really thought of before. Siloam gets a lot of donations, but the thing is that they get a high amount of female attire, and since the majority of the people that attend Siloam are male, this causes a bit a problem. Also people go through their stuff and give it to them, but maybe its all their summer clothes. Well now its winter, so it will help them, but not now. Siloam has a website that helps people know what they do need.
Here is the website on their needs:
http://www.siloam.ca/get-involved/fill-a-need/
When I think of homeless people, I think, well they don't have anything. But when I went on this tour I heard some things that I didn't even think about them loosing. Like a phone number, or mailing address. These people haven't just lost food, a roof, but they have lost their identity. Things like phone numbers and mailing addresses, people to communicate with, often is taken for granted. So I thought that was really crazy to me that I had never thought about little things like that.