Ever since I started earning a couple of years ago, I had been very interested in giving back to society through volunteer/charity work. At my first job, I had signed up to donate a small sum every month to the non-governmental environmental organization called Greenpeace. I was happy to have been doing that and kept telling myself that I was indeed helping give back something to the world in my own little way. But always, there was something amiss. I wasn’t fully satisfied with the automatic monthly debits to my account which was, I must say- quite mechanical and did not produce the true feeling of satisfaction that I craved for. I longed to personally get involved at a volunteering event. Usually most of us are content with the donations we make to such charitable organizations/non-governmental organizations (NGOs). We go about our daily lives, satisfied with the fact that we are doing something good for the world without ever wondering how and where it materializes. But trust me, that feeling of satisfaction when you do volunteer work only magnifies if you are personally involved.
I am not saying that people at the charitable organizations around the world are swindling your money and use them to buy a new Porsche or to fly to Hawaii for family vacations. No sir, I have the utmost respect for every one of these organizations for what they are doing.
But this is a blog about ‘My’ perspectives on issues and topics that I like to talk about and that is what I am doing.
Let me explain it from another angle-All through school and college, I’ve been the kind of person who falls in the category of those who learn better while performing a task practically, rather than mugging up facts. I realized that the same applies to doing social/charitable work too.
Last week I had a beautiful opportunity to do just that. A small team of seven from my office went to help at a place that provides housing and food for families who have children being treated at hospitals and other local medical facilities around the city. Now, we all know that hospital food is not exactly considered a delicacy. So the thought of providing fresh hot food to these people came across as a very unique and an extremely thoughtful way to help. This place is called the Ronald McDonald House.
Our team was to prepare food for at least forty people. At the Ronald McDonald house, the expense for all the ingredients is borne by the volunteers themselves, who get a fully equipped (and must I say- beautiful) kitchen to work their magic in. Our small group consisted primarily of women who had perfected their culinary skills with years of cooking for their families. I, on the other hand was just an over-enthusiastic lad amongst them who wanted to be involved in the volunteering in any way possible.
Everyone in the group was super-duper-efficient and we ended up dishing out quite a spread for our guests.
Here is the complete menu:
-White Chicken Chilli
-Beef Chilli
-Vegetarian Chilli
-Corn bread (two varieties)
-hot dogs (three varieties again)
-Green garden salad
-cheese and crackers.
-fresh baked brownies and cookies
-fruit salad
-ice-cream cups
-and something that resembled a peach souffle
And if you must know, I made the salad. Yeah, yeah-- I know you will probably snigger at this and say “A salad?! That’s not called cooking!!”. And I agree. BUT, in my defence I’d say that it was an effort in my own little way, that came from the heart and I did contribute to the platter. I am extremely pleased about it, to say the least.
The experience of actually cooking for families and helping them savour fresh and homely food was just beautiful. This is because I actually got to be a part of doing something that was immensely rewarding (mentally).
One other thing that I liked about the evening was that we actually cooked all the food there. None of the aforementioned items were pre-packaged (read: canned) food that was just heated up in a microwave and served. It was actual homely food (I have used those two words side by side on two occasions now and am beginning to doubt if that’s even grammatically correct...but you get the point).
I went home that evening with the widest smile on my face, having done my part and having experienced immense satisfaction while doing it. I also had the company of some of the smartest and hard-working women I have come across in my life. They have been working at our company for years (some have been here for more than 10 years). Their work in the kitchen that evening was as sharp and spot-on as their work is at office. And each and every one of us cooked with the same level of passion and enthusiasm.
I realized that I will volunteer to do this again and again in the coming years because I know with the highest degree of certainty, that I will never get tired of being a part of something so nice and satisfying.
I urge every person who reads this blog -to go out and volunteer in your city. It can be any kind of volunteer work- It could be helping care for abandoned animals at a shelter, spending an evening caring for the less privileged of our society or even a small thing like cleaning a street or planting more trees. I urge you because you will experience the wonderful feeling of having helped someone in your own way and that feeling will stay with you for the rest of your life.
:)
Thanks Mr.Lee for proofreading this for me. I know this isn't the first time you've done this for me. Just wanted to let you know that your proof-reading skills are beyond awesome and I will continue to exploit them for a long time. :D
I am not saying that people at the charitable organizations around the world are swindling your money and use them to buy a new Porsche or to fly to Hawaii for family vacations. No sir, I have the utmost respect for every one of these organizations for what they are doing.
But this is a blog about ‘My’ perspectives on issues and topics that I like to talk about and that is what I am doing.
Let me explain it from another angle-All through school and college, I’ve been the kind of person who falls in the category of those who learn better while performing a task practically, rather than mugging up facts. I realized that the same applies to doing social/charitable work too.
Last week I had a beautiful opportunity to do just that. A small team of seven from my office went to help at a place that provides housing and food for families who have children being treated at hospitals and other local medical facilities around the city. Now, we all know that hospital food is not exactly considered a delicacy. So the thought of providing fresh hot food to these people came across as a very unique and an extremely thoughtful way to help. This place is called the Ronald McDonald House.
Our team was to prepare food for at least forty people. At the Ronald McDonald house, the expense for all the ingredients is borne by the volunteers themselves, who get a fully equipped (and must I say- beautiful) kitchen to work their magic in. Our small group consisted primarily of women who had perfected their culinary skills with years of cooking for their families. I, on the other hand was just an over-enthusiastic lad amongst them who wanted to be involved in the volunteering in any way possible.
Everyone in the group was super-duper-efficient and we ended up dishing out quite a spread for our guests.
Here is the complete menu:
-White Chicken Chilli
-Beef Chilli
-Vegetarian Chilli
-Corn bread (two varieties)
-hot dogs (three varieties again)
-Green garden salad
-cheese and crackers.
-fresh baked brownies and cookies
-fruit salad
-ice-cream cups
-and something that resembled a peach souffle
 |
| Ha! My colorful salad. |
And if you must know, I made the salad. Yeah, yeah-- I know you will probably snigger at this and say “A salad?! That’s not called cooking!!”. And I agree. BUT, in my defence I’d say that it was an effort in my own little way, that came from the heart and I did contribute to the platter. I am extremely pleased about it, to say the least.
The experience of actually cooking for families and helping them savour fresh and homely food was just beautiful. This is because I actually got to be a part of doing something that was immensely rewarding (mentally).
One other thing that I liked about the evening was that we actually cooked all the food there. None of the aforementioned items were pre-packaged (read: canned) food that was just heated up in a microwave and served. It was actual homely food (I have used those two words side by side on two occasions now and am beginning to doubt if that’s even grammatically correct...but you get the point).
I went home that evening with the widest smile on my face, having done my part and having experienced immense satisfaction while doing it. I also had the company of some of the smartest and hard-working women I have come across in my life. They have been working at our company for years (some have been here for more than 10 years). Their work in the kitchen that evening was as sharp and spot-on as their work is at office. And each and every one of us cooked with the same level of passion and enthusiasm.
I urge every person who reads this blog -to go out and volunteer in your city. It can be any kind of volunteer work- It could be helping care for abandoned animals at a shelter, spending an evening caring for the less privileged of our society or even a small thing like cleaning a street or planting more trees. I urge you because you will experience the wonderful feeling of having helped someone in your own way and that feeling will stay with you for the rest of your life.
:)
Thanks Mr.Lee for proofreading this for me. I know this isn't the first time you've done this for me. Just wanted to let you know that your proof-reading skills are beyond awesome and I will continue to exploit them for a long time. :D
