Nashville, TN: Yesterday, I finally gave in. After almost two weeks after the flood, I finally gave into my own Catholic guilt about NOT doing anything and signed up to volunteer. I've got a million reasons why I didn't want to right away.... I'm tired, I just got off the road, I volunteer a lot normally.... but considering my home wasn't affected by the tragedy at all and I have friends that literally saw their cars floating down a river that covered what used to be a road, I decided that the not-doing was not really an option anymore.
But if you know me at all, you know I'm not much of an outdoors-y / move big pieces of furniture around kinda girl. I like to help, I want to be a part of a movement.... but can't I do it from my computer in jammies, please? Yes, actually, I can (as my friends did
here and
here). However, I felt the need to get out in the community. To actually be able to say
"I am Nashville" and feel like it wasn't a total sham.
So, thanks to
Hands on Nashville, I could easily sort opportunities by date and time (which is a big factor in my sometimes randomly scheduled life) and I found the perfect one... two and a half hours on a Thursday, 5 mins. from my house and perfect for groups, seniors and wheelchair accessible? Um... ok, maybe not made for me
exactly, but close enough! Oh, and it was not too labor-intensive.
I would be making sandwiches.
Now, you may say to yourself, "
self, how could making sandwiches actually be helpful to people that just lost their homes and possessions in a deadly flood?" Which is what I said to myself when I initially read the description. However, after spending two and a half hours with a group of fantastic volunteers at the
Salvation Army, I realized these sandwiches (along with a bag of chips, packet of crackers and a fruit snack!) would be feeding relief workers who were moving the heavy furniture from destroyed homes and the owners of the homes who were trying to figure out how to put back their lives together. Food is such an essential part to keeping up strength during this physically and mentally straining time and I would be offering a bit of strength through ham and cheese.
It's a bit of a stretch, I suppose, but for the 1,657 people we eventually would feed, I think they might agree that it takes a village... and that village needs to eat!
