For Dot Day this year, our eighth grade girls decided to join forces and volunteer as a group at the Bagwell Food Pantry. Dot Day is all about community, and we thought this was a great opportunity to strengthen the ties between our girls and our advisee groups as we helped the local community. We arrived at the food pantry bright and early, most of us not knowing exactly what we would be doing, but all of us eager to help.
To start with, a number of our girls double-bagged paper bags that could handle the weight of canned goods. This really opened our eyes to how much doing even seemingly trivial things for others can make a huge difference. While it sounds simple, opening and stuffing paper bags is incredibly time consuming, and our help completing this basic chore had an enormous impact; the food pantry’s regular volunteers were freed up to devote their valuable time to other important administrative and organizational tasks.
While half of our girls worked on the paper bags, another group of girls stuffed plastic bags for Action Ministries’ Backpack Buddies program. According to the Action Ministries website, the Backpack Buddies program “provides vulnerable children with a bag of ‘child-friendly’ food that is discreetly placed in their backpacks on Friday afternoons with enough food to last them through the weekend.”
This particular activity really hit home with our girls, and they worked enthusiastically and tirelessly to organize and fill the Backpack Buddies bags. As Emily Brandon put it, “I enjoyed packing the backpack buddies because I knew I was helping hungry little children.”
After we finished with our organizational efforts, the food pantry opened, and our girls began to assist the staff in filling carts for the food pantry customers. Many of those who come to the food pantry for assistance suffer from chronic illness and disability, so our girls brought the groceries to their cars for them. Many people were extremely moved by how friendly and kind our students are, and our girls were also moved to be grateful for their many blessings.
For Annabelle Braden, taking carts to cars was one of the best parts of her day because she got to see that the food pantry’s customers were going to have food. “I enjoyed knowing that we were helping out,” she said.
She was not alone in this feeling. Several students felt that their work on Dot Day hadn’t just impacted the community – it had also impacted them and their worldviews, as well. Amelia Allen was very moved by her experience. “I feel very fortunate for having food every day”, she said. Jiniya Trammell said that her experience helped her notice “that the world has a lot of struggles. I liked helping the needy, and I liked that we each made a difference in someone’s life. I’d like to do this again because it exposes us to the world around us.”
All of our girls echoed Jiniya’s desire to return to the food pantry. At the end of the day, they were truly reluctant to leave. They had a wonderful time helping out and getting to know the staff at the food pantry. Several girls mentioned that they’d love to volunteer at the food pantry again and make this a regular part of our lives, and we have encouraged them to bring their ideas to the service committee. For Mrs. Robinson, Mrs. Moore, and myself, this was a wonderful opportunity to see our girls grow and reflect on the real meaning of serving with respect.
