My community service project involves helping the homeless in the community. I am involved in a project which is to to feed the homeless. I am involved in the project every Thursday evening, and I volunteer for two hours. The main task during the two hours is preparing cutlery and to serving the food to the homeless people. I am supposed to volunteer for a total of 25 hours, and I have already covered 10 hours of the total time.
During the last meeting, the leader of the project delegated some tasks to the members of the volunteer group. I am in the team that has to visit the grocery store to investigate the prices of the basic foodstuff. This task is geared toward identifying the cost of food for the homeless people. We particularly have to focus on the living conditions of the homeless people to highlight the level of poverty that they face, and to enable the organizers to come up with the most feasible plans to alleviate their situation. According to my findings from the groceries, an average meal for the homeless people costs $20.
A majority of the people we serve can barely afford this amount, hence, they have to skip meals and survive on whatever they get from begging in the streets. Their situation is dire, and our charity project is barely enough to meet their basic needs. My experience with the homeless people has enlightened me about the adverse effects of poverty. I always had a notion that people can easily get away from poverty, but I have learned that the poor people do not always have an easy way out of their challenges.
CST reveals that it is the responsibility of the society to empower the poor. The experience has a direct link with the CST because I am involved in the attainment of the theme of human dignity that forms the core of the concept. I am acquainted with the requirements of a true Christian, and my conduct while attending to the homeless is guided by the requirements of CST.
According to chapter 5 of See, Judge, Act: Catholic Social Teaching and Service Learning by Erin M. Brigham, economic justice should prevail across the society, and this is the main goal of the project. Through the project, I have realized that there are many people in the streets who cannot afford a meal, and I have related to the ideas presented in the CST that the community should be actively involved in helping the poor.
I have witnessed the level of poverty that faces the homeless people, and I am challenged by the CST to look into helping the homeless whenever possible. While our project is intended to feed the homeless, there should be other projects developed to provide employment opportunities and housing for them. The principle of solidarity is emphasized in chapter 6 of Brigham’s book, and it should be at the heart of the community in the course of empowering the poor.
It is sad to see that the current situation of the homeless people is still very bad, whereas there are many people in the community that have the financial ability to help them rise from their impoverished conditions. CST calls for the entire community to integrate the available resources to help the poor. Giving is highlighted as a blessing by the Holy Scripture, and CST emphasizes on helping to the poor. Helping the needy is not limited to giving tangible things. Offering services to the needy is also an act of giving.