Service Reflection

Unfortunately, for the first half of the semester, working at Foodchain has been difficult. Not because the work there is hard, but because it was very difficult to find a time where both I am out of class and someone can actually be at Foodchain to give us guidance. Anne Preston, the service coordinator for Foodchain, had said that she would give time slots for us outside of their normal volunteer hours, but the days for those don’t happen until the second half of the semester. That being said, I was able to work there for at least a few hours and from that experience I can tell I will really enjoy the rest of my time there. When I went, we unfortunately didn’t get to do any hands on farm work with either the fish or the plants. Instead, I was needed for cleaning up a renovation project in a more run-down part of the building where their kitchen and store are being built. The paint in that room is currently being stripped and everything needed to be swept up for a dinner that Foodchain was hosting. I also set up tables for the people that would be eating there as well. From both my orientation and the few hours I have done thus far, I can tell that just being in the atmosphere is an excitement. The whole place has a very distinct smell and you can just feel the humidity in the room. But it just looks absolutely amazing. While there I was able to take the picture below. It shows on the right the water tanks holding the fish, the pipes that connect them to the bacteria pool which converts their waste to fertilizer, and then from the middle of the picture to the left are the actual plant gardens. The water that flows from the bacteria pool to the plants is then taken and recycled back into the fish tanks at the end of the cycle. That alone is an amazing process but just being able to be a part of this organization to help give back to the community when Foodchain asks for nothing in return is incredible.

Picture taken by me