There are several opportunities that
each of us has to volunteer – whether through the community or the Church we
attend – often both.
The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints distributes food items to so many in need all throughout the
world. And the demands are always
increasing. Assignments must be
fulfilled in order to meet the requirements and demands.
I
have personally assisted at the pasta plant, the cannery, the dairy (well – not
the actual dairy where the cows are milked – but the plant where the milk and
cheese are made) the bishops’ storehouse and Deseret Industries (a
store which sells a large variety of second hand goods) For each I have
positive experiences for the most part.
With some come memorable stories.
Once when I was pregnant with Jenna,
Roland and I had gone to DI to offer our assistance. I don’t recall what location – but we were
given chairs and price guns to put on books that had been put on carts but were
still outside. Roland and I started
setting aside books that we thought we would like to have for our unborn child.
Some were really in great condition.
Some appeared as though they had never been used.
The first time I’m aware that I assisted
at DI, our son Ooki (mentioned here)
was living with us at the time. As it
was also his first time assisting at the store he wore his flip flops – his
everyday footwear – and so for safety reasons he wasn’t allowed to be on the
floor lifting heavy objects as Roland and Biff had been assigned.
Ooki and I were assigned to the warehouse. Our job was to sort through clothes. There were three lines overhead. We were told
to sort the clothes into men, women and children. It was so awesome having him back there with
me as he was a natural hard worker – and he could reach above me and could more
easily pull down more hangers when we ran out.
There was one thing that amused me about
his performance however. Every time he came across something red, it
automatically went onto the women’s hanging.
If it was small enough, I suppose he would have placed it to the children’s
side. But I did notice when he placed a
man’s shirt on the women’s line.
“Isn’t that a man’s shirt?” I asked after he had placed it on the line
with the other clothing.
“NO!” he wondered what would possess
me to ask such a question. “Would you
wear that if you were a man?”
“I don’t know. But look.
It is a man’s shirt. The buttons
are on the opposite side.”
People have asked, “Why do men and
women have buttons on the opposite side of their shirts?”
I wasn’t paying close enough attention
to ever consider it. But Roland
explained to me that so that when you are dressing a person of a different sex
than your own (an invalid spouse, parent, child, whatever) the buttons are on
the same side as your used to. Oh.
“Besides just because you wouldn’t
wear it doesn’t mean another man wouldn’t.
Don’t you think it looks like something that Tony might wear?”
“Oh, alright!” Ooki removed the
garment and placed it on the men’s line.
It did make me smile that he had reacted as he had.
I don’t recall having done volunteer
work at the pasta plant until after I was married. Volunteers have to be at least sixteen and so
we didn’t have any of the boys the first couple of times.
Roland and I were assigned to remove
the spaghetti noodles from the chute and stack them neatly in grey tubs. I have small hands and was not able to keep
up with Roland who was filling 3 ½ tubs to my every one. When my side got too full, Roland and I would
trade places and he’d empty my side until I could no longer keep up with his
side. And then we’d trade back. It was
fun.
When I’m at the dairy, I am usually on
the assembly line with the cheese – though I don’t recall now what my exact job
was. My favorite part about working
there is going on break and having access to chocolate milk and cheese. And often we get a brick of cheese before we
leave. And church cheese is very
wonderful to the pallet.
This last Thursday I did some work at
the cannery. It wasn’t near as hot as
the pasta plant – especially where I was positioned. I enjoyed watching the long line of conveyor
belts take each of the bottles to their destination.
Someone would load empty bottles onto
the conveyor belt. The bottles would
line up and go through a machine that would squirt salsa into each bottle. Then the loaded jars would be removed long
enough for one of three workers to put on the lid. And then it would go to the “steam room for
bottles”
The temperature of the water – from what
I understand – was 180 – and that would seal the lids onto the jars. My job was checking the lids to make certain
that all were vacuum-packed – and to remove the few that still had air beneath
the lids.
The water had cooled down quite a bit –
though the salsa was still warm. I loved
having the opportunity to shake some excess water onto myself to help myself
cool down.
The final destination for the bottles
was inside of a premade box. And that
was it. I worked hard and once my shift
ended, I drove to my sister’s house to pick up Jenna (who had spent the night)
I didn’t realize how sore I was until I sat down on Kayla’s couch. I must do some volunteer work more
often. I may start going 3 of 4 times a
month after school starts again.
I mentioned the Bishops’ Storehouse in
this post. We have also fulfilled various tasks at the
food bank – from sorting food products to sending out letters. I’m grateful for the opportunities that I
have to serve.
