Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Thanksgiving

A Public Service Announcement:
Having worked in homeless shelters, here is my public service announcement for everyone you know: PLEASE refrain from volunteering to serve meals on Thanksgiving and Christmas. 
STAY HOME. Shelters and food banks are totally inundated with well-wishers who want to serve turkey to the “less fortunate” on Thanksgiving and it requires lots of extra work for these shelters just to handle the volunteers. (Public officials are the worst offenders about this.) 
DO NOT bring your kids there on Thanksgiving, thinking it will do them good to see the less fortunate. A SHELTER IS NOT A ZOO. 
That being said, shelters DO need volunteers to show up regularly all year long. Have your teenager volunteer to unload the delivery truck in the back alley every Saturday morning. Better yet, send an anonymous donation, stay home, and give thanks for your bounty. 
Gobble Gobble.

posted by Br. Jonathan @ 11/20/2012   1 Comments

1 Comments:

At 12:27 AM , Blogger Harpers Keeper said...

Good information. I used to work with a community center that collected food or holiday dinner at a shelter in Detroit and they did organize volunteers but there were only two shifts; unloading the trucks when we delivered the food and clean up crew afterward. The church that ran the shelter seemed to appreciate it and we left the kitchen and food service to their experienced crews of regulars.

 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home