Let the Construction Begin

Submitted November 29, 2011 by Emily | 0 comments

In the three months that I’ve been at Second Helpings I’ve been given the opportunity to see and do many different things –agency visits, meal deliveries, tours, special events. All of these have been wholly enjoyable and rewarding, and they have taught me a great deal about our organization and what we do in the community. Still, there is one job that stands out most; one which I now lovingly refer to as “initiation.”

I believe it was my third day at Second Helpings when I showed up in jeans, sneakers and an old t-shirt, donned my gloves and hairnet and went to work in our hunger relief kitchen. Now, I like to think that I can hold my own in the kitchen, but this was something completely different. By 11 o’clock in the morning I was elbow deep in tomato sauce, my fingers cramped beyond recognition from hours of chopping chicken and vegetables, and I can’t be certain, but it’s entirely possible that I left wearing more spaghetti than we sent out. What an awesome day that was! True, I might have gone home that afternoon a little worse for wear, but I still remember the amazing feeling of doing something good; something that would immediately make a positive impact in the life of another human being.

I’ve heard the work that our hunger relief kitchen does described in many ways, but one thing is for certain: the work that they do is phenomenal. Last year alone more than 653,000 meals were prepared by Chef Liz and her crew and distributed to local shelters, centers and soup kitchens. Can you imagine what they could do with a bigger kitchen and better resources? Well, hold on to your hats, folks, because in about six weeks that’s just what they’re getting.

Construction begins on December 5th to expand our hunger relief kitchen, making it more efficient and allowing us enough capacity to double meal production. And since we would never let a little dust stop us from sending out meals to the hungry people of Indianapolis, meal production is packing up shop and moving to the Indiana State Fairgrounds, courtesy of the always generous Barto’s Catering. So yeah, we’ve been feeding a lot of hungry people, but we also know that there are more out there, and we’re getting ready to feed them, too.

 

 

 

 

 

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