Reality Check: My Experience Volunteering At a Soup Kitchen

It is something I have always thought about doing, but that is all it was; a thought. With the brutal winter in full swing I finally figured it was time. So I started to Google soup kitchens in Philadelphia and I came across a list of 47 throughout the city. Some are open seven days a week for lunch and dinner while some serve one night a week. I chose to volunteer at Hillel on the campus of Penn. They offer a soup kitchen every Sunday night from 5:30 to 8 o'clock. No sign up is needed, just show up and help out.

During the subway ride over to Penn from Temple, I really did not know what to expect. The only visions I have are what I have seen in movies and television. When I got there, we made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches using every slice of the five loafs of bread. We put them in sandwich bags for guests to take on their way out along with a banana and milk. After that we gathered in the dining area to receive our jobs. One person would handout utensils, re-fill cups, serve food, etc. The most important assignment was to simply sit down and have a casual conversation.

At 6 o'clock the guests were allowed in. They calmly filed in, took a seat at a table, and had their cups filled with hot tea. Me and the other volunteers stood in line with an empty plate in each hand. Each plate got a serving of pasta with vegetables, pasta with meat, two slices of bread, and two chocolate chip cookies. After everybody received a plate of  food I stood in the back of the room. As I closed my eyes for a few seconds, it sounded more like the college dining hall it was than a soup kitchen. Soft contemporary music was playing through an iPod dock, but what was more noticeable was the laughter. I opened my eyes to see smiles in between each bite of hot food. That's when it first hit me. These people, after everything they have and are still going through, at this moment in time are happy.

I saw an open chair a couple tables away and asked if I could take a seat. The table was occupied by three men and a woman who were chatting about the weather. I asked how the night was going and a few responded with; "good." At first, I thought it would be easy to just sit and have a talk like I do almost every day with people at school. This was different. Thoughts of what to say raced through my head. How was your weekend? No. Did you see this or this on TV? No. I was going through my potential conversation topics as if I were tip toeing across a minefield. Usually when I am in a nervous situation I instinctively take out my cell phone as if there is an app to tell me what to do. However, I stopped my hand from reaching into my pocket. After about a minute the man to my right asked about Penn and I responded that I go to Temple. He then went on to talk about the new legislation in Harrisburg which he knew way more about than me.

When 6:30 rolled around guests were allowed to come up and get seconds. A line quickly formed. With plenty of food left there was enough for not just seconds, but thirds, fourths, and  fifths. Understandably, some went back to their tables and slid the food into a container along side a bottle of tea. While others stacked a fresh plate on top of their full plate of food and put it in a plastic bag to take with them. Around 7:30 everybody was gone. All I could think about was to where?

I look back on this experience as both educational and emotional. I feel blessed for everything I have. While there are plenty of statistics and graphs about homeless people on the web, I chose not to post any. These people are not numbers or lines, thats just what they are; people.


Here is a list of some soup kitchens in Philadelphia. Your time is much more valuable than the spare change in your pocket.

Auto Show More About MPG's Than Horsepower

2011 Chevrolet Volt

The 2011 Philadelphia International Auto Show is now at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. It kicked off Friday night with the Black Tie Tailgate. With over 700 cars you are sure to find your dream ride. The exhibits are full of high performance sports cars, but the talk of the event is the up and coming of electric cars. Vehicles like the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt, which can operate solely on electricity, are drawing just as much attention as the Porsche's and Lamborghini's. Almost every major car manufacturer was showing off their new green machines. The Auto Show is running from now through Sunday, February 6th.

Click Here for show hours, ticket information, and celebrity appearances.

Here are my favorites from this year's show:

New System for Philly Sports Fans to Get Cherished Beer at Games

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Everyone knows how Philadelphia sports fans love their beer at games, maybe a little too much. Well now GrinOn Industries has a new draft beer tap to eliminate lines and overly foamy beer. Check out the video below to see BottomsUP Beer at work.

Hometown Legend Leading the Fight to Rejuvenate Neighborhoods

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Kenny Gamble, songwriter and producer as a part of Gamble and Huff has 15 gold singles along with 22 gold albums, eight of which have gone platinum. That is just the beginning of the long list of accomplishments for this Philadelphia icon. Gamble's most impressive triumph might be his latest adventure. Gamble runs a community development corporation, Universal Companies, which has been working to rebuild his home neighborhood in South Philadelphia. Universal Companies has already improved education and housing in the area. The worn out sections of Point Breeze and Grays Ferry are the focus for Gamble's next project. With a one-year planning grant supplied by the U.S. Department of Education and more money supplied by the William Penn Foundation, Gamble hopes to lay out the "Pointgrays" plan to overhaul the neighborhood. They will then submit the plan to the Department of Education, as a part of its Promise Neighborhoods program, will award four of the 21 grantees another grant to take their plan into action. Gamble hopes to develop the community with education, affordable housing, jobs, businesses, and family services. This is just the start of Kenny Gamble's outline to make Philadelphia a better place to live.

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Point Breeze 

Music Helps to Heal Children

Based out of New York, Musicians On Call brings live music to bed ridden children in hospitals. With the help of WXPN-FM, Pennsylvania University's public radio station, they have been booking musicians to perform in medical facilities throughout the city since 2004.

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Much like the film based on a true story, Patch Adams, which featured Robin Williams (above) playing an industrious medical student who used comedy to help young ill patients, Musicians On Call has a very similar affect. Doctors state that their patients show improvement following the joy of the live performances. Visit Musicians On Call's website to see how to volunteer, donate, and other information.

Wawa Provides Warmth for the Winter

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In case you needed another reason to love Wawa, for the whole month of January Wawa is selling ANY size and flavor coffee for just $1. This deal offers just a little bright spot in an otherwise brutally cold and snowy winter season.

See Life Through the Bifocals

There are plenty of great tourist spots throughout the city. However, only one can put you in the middle of America's fight for independence. Lights of Liberty's Liberty 360 is a 3D spectacle that is led by Philadelphia's own Benjamin Franklin. The 15 minute show will take you through 18th century Philadelphia. The state of the art 360-degree theater is at the Historic Philadelphia Center in the PECO theater on a 50 foot long, 8 foot high screen. Liberty 360 runs year round with shows starting every 20 minutes.



Coming this spring/summer is another must see experience. A new addition to Lights of Liberty will take place at night outside of Independence Hall. Audience's will wear headsets as images up to 5 stories high are projected on to some of the city's most historic buildings to the tunes of the Philadelphia Orchestra and narrators. 

Over two centuries have passed since America's independence. It is great to see that with the rapid development of technology that Philadelphia is using it to bring us closer to the history which helped build the city and the country.