Student Reflection: Core Group Member Art C. reflects on his experiences delivering food to the materially poor

Every Friday during the summer, a group of Prep students, faculty, friends, and whomever else is interested travel from Creighton Prep to the Open Door Mission Site to prepare approximately 1000 lunches.  The simple lunches contain a sandwich, chips or crackers, candy, and a cookie. After preparation is complete, the group then loads the food into a van and travels around Omaha to areas where the financially unstable and marginalized victims live or gather and offer them a lunch.

Students delivering lunches for the Streets of Omaha Project

I have completed this service opportunity a total of 3 times (twice during the summer and once during my Sophomore retreat).  Each time, the people I have met and the environments I have witnessed, affect and alter my perceptions toward our society. I understand that there is suffering and a lack of need everywhere, but the experience of being close and interacting with the people of these communities have forced me to feel a fraction of the pain and hopelessness they endure daily.

After 6 hours of concocting, packing, delivering lunches, the effort transcended into fulfillment physically and spiritually. People were given food, while I consequently fulfilled my role as a person urging to serve. As I reflect, one moment in particular comes to mind. One Friday a teacher and I walked towards an apartment complex (a know hot spot for food insecurity) and after knocking and making our presence apparent, 6-7 children raced downstairs to ask for some lunches.  The joy in the children's eyes as they spotted the simple sack lunch enlightened my life. Knowing that these and many other materially poor citizens will not need to live this day without a lunch pushes me to return and do the service all over again. It is the satisfaction of being able to envision hope that keeps me positive.

The difficulty of any kind of service that requires interaction with the poor is the revelation of how hard life can be. In the communities I visit I often see boarded-up houses, graffiti-ed walls, broken windows, un-mowed grass, trashed lawns, tarnished clothing, rotting refuse, cracked roads, and dilapidated housing.  Emotions of sadness, pity, and despair flush over me anytime I witness these squalid situations. It is difficult to be able to completely feel valuable and of service without also feeling hopeless during the process.  Placing myself into the lives of others is an adversity on my character and integrity.  It tests my abilities of persistence, courage, and perseverance. The challenge of overcoming this adversity requires sympathy, altruism, and compassion; a task I am willing to endure without any pressures of obligation. 

I have delivered to both South Omaha and North Omaha and have concluded that the two areas are essentially the same. Although the two areas are similar, they are incommensurable with other parts of Omaha such as West Omaha, East Omaha and Midtown in terms of housing development, financial situations, and standard of living. South Omaha has a strong Latino population requiring some Spanish to effectively communicate information pertaining towards their need of food. Regardless, citizens of South Omaha are eager to communicate in order to acquire any food possibly due to the vast food insecurity infecting the community.

I have enjoyed every minute of my time working with the Streets of Omaha Project. I have been able to meet some new people, experience some new environments, and ultimately immerse myself into unknown territory. It is a territory where I feel a bit uncomfortable and out of place due to the disparity between lifestyles. Inversely, fully assimilating myself for the cause is worth the effort because with this known gap I am able to condense it and find other ways to do so as well giving me confidence and optimism for the future.  I admit to feeling downtrodden, irritated, and hopeless at times with my given materials but as the day ends, everyone is a human with needs. For me, being able to support those marginalized and vulnerable in order to gratify some of their necessities is the true power of empathy and hope for a brighter future.  As I go on with my service, the people help me understand and relate their experiences with my own by sharing their thanks and graces with a mutual respect.