Today was my last time volunteering at The Bowery Mission for my senior project. I volunteered for the lunch prep shift from 10:00AM-12:00PM, which I haven't done since the first week of my project. When I went to get my apron I saw four volunteers packing up hard-boiled eggs. I hoped that they were staying for the shift that I was starting and not just finishing up to leave. (They did stay!) I washed my hands and did the usual things before saying hello to everyone. Then I headed to the back where everyone was and started putting the containers with two eggs in them into brown bags, two containers at a time. Then another volunteer put the bags into larger bins. While we were working, three more volunteers came in to get aprons, but they headed to the kitchen to do other tasks. It was so great having so many other volunteers there with me, we talked about the new covid mask regulations and other things in life.
When we finished all 3 trays of hardboiled eggs, we moved the bins into the walk-in fridge and started to prepare the lunch bags. We got the hot meals, the extra meals, bagels, and apples to put in each bag. I also grabbed the large grey bins where we put all the bags once we were finished with them. We made two assembly lines on each side of the table. One person puts the hot meal in, then another puts the extra and bagel with a side of butter in, then the last person puts the apple in and ties up the bag. I wrapped the bagels in deli wrap and handed the bags to the apple person because nobody wants to eat a loose bagel. We worked so well together and were very efficient. We grabbed more things as they were needed along the way, then we finished all the hot meals so we wrapped up and put everything away. Then I cleaned the table with a wet cloth while the others put the heavier bins away.
Lastly, two other volunteers and I took out frozen meals from boxes and put them onto trays to put onto two rolling carts for tomorrow. I put 9 meals on each tray and we had to count how many there were in the end because there were supposed to be 240, but we counted 225. The staff said not to worry about it and before I knew it, it was 12:00. I didn't tell anyone it was my last time volunteering because I will come back one day. I took my apron, gloves, and hairnet off for the last time and washed my hands. Then I said goodbye to everyone, and everyone said thank you so much for volunteering. This was such an amazing experience for me and I always felt so valued when volunteering. I will never forget the staff members there and my time at The Bowery Mission, I will definitely be finding a place like it next year in Boston when I go to college so I can still volunteer.
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