Two weeks ago, I joined a group of fourteen 10th and 11th graders on their Hesed outing to the Broadway Community Soup Kitchen that has served the Upper West Side community near Columbia since 1982 thanks to a very large, committed group of volunteers. In addition to serving food, they provide shelter for 12 homeless men, social services, and health care.
I always enjoy spending time outside of school with our students, and with a small group, it is especially rewarding because I have the opportunity to catch up with them a little on their lives, their classes, movies, sports, etc. or simply watch them interacting with their friends.
After a pleasant subway ride up to Columbia, we walked over to the soup kitchen to help prepare lunch for a group of about 60 people who had come in on that day in need of a meal. The Heschel students donned their aprons, hairnets, and plastic gloves and started doing everything from filling water pitchers, salad plates, and fruit cocktail servings, then went on to passing out the various courses to the different tables. Every 20 minutes there would be late arrivals in search of a meal, and the students would walk over and offer their assistance. While some students washed and dried dishes at the end of the meal, others wiped down tables and then helped close them or stack chairs. Two students mopped the floor, while still others helped to schlep and then unload cartons of produce for the next meal that would be offered. Nadav handled the 200 falling cucumbers while walking down the steps (problem with the bottom of the carton) as coolly as the vegetables themselves.
There is always something moving in this kind of setting, watching our students hard at work doing community service, intent on helping out and ready to respond wherever needed. I think they appreciate the importance of this meaningful kind of service, and I know I appreciate them.
-Jessica Gribetz