This Sunday 37 volunteers joined ReachOut! and Muslims Against Hunger for an Interfaith Day of Service. The event was part of a larger series of programs organized with help from the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding. 

Our goals for the event were simple:

  • fill a room with young adults and have an amazing time. 
  • And foster community and understanding. 
  • And tackle issues of hunger. 
  • And get from our lunch meeting spot to our volunteer spot in one piece.

(Admittedly, our goals might not have actually been simple.)

 

The afternoon was off to a great start as we found almost 40 young adults with one thing in common: the viewpoint that nothing is better than free food- especially when that food is hummus and falafel. We spent an hour building bridges as we found commonalities between ourselves through a series of interactive (and, if I do say so myself) humorous and fun ice breakers. Participants discussed everything from shared loves of travel, number of languages spoken and favorite hobbies to stories behind family heirlooms and origins of their names. At the close of the hour, carpools were secured and we headed over to the Greater Boston Food Bank to volunteer.

 Our 37 volunteers made 3,774 meals possible by sorting 5,152 pounds of food. That’s roughly 132 pounds per volunteer—which translates to each volunteer sorting, boxing and creating 100 meals.

 

In ReachOut! tradition, the weight of 5,152 pounds of food is the equivalent of:

 

  • 8.5 fully grown gorillas, or,
  • 923,100.8 pennies, or,
  • 612.57 gallons of water, or,
  • 1,133.33 13 inch 2011 MacBook Pros…

Georgi Vogel Rosen recounted the event here. “The desire to help those in need transcends religious and ethnic boundaries. ReachOut! volunteers have been working on hunger issues since the group’s inception, and we are so excited to join with Muslims Against Hunger in this effort. Working together will only make us more effective.”

 

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