Building Food Boxes

Boise Rescue Mission: GSAA Service Day, 12.13.13

Friday, after a morning of shortened, 30-minute classes, we loaded all the students and most of the faculty (armed with PB&J sack lunches) onto the school bus and drove to the city to volunteer with the Boise Rescue Mission. One of the most prominent and beneficial organizations in this state, Boise Rescue Mission is a valuable resource for homelessness in Idaho. The volunteer coordinators told us that BRM serves over 900 meals a day this time of year, and packages thousands of food boxes with donated canned goods and food staples. They also told us that they are the second largest distributor of Toys for Tots, after the Marines. Here's the site: http://www.boiserm.org/

Our Gem State herd was first ushered into a giant warehouse where we met the main volunteer coordinators and were introduced to the task ahead. Our goal: Build 1000 food boxes today! Each containing:

Getting the plan at Boise Rescue Mission!

• 1 bag of beans

• 2 cans of vegetables

• 1 can of fruit

• 3-5 potatoes

• 1 onion

• 1 box/bag stuffing

• 1 boxed dessert mix/candy

• tract and coloring packet

The work was fast and FUN! Each person filled a valuable and necessary task along the assembly line. It was a little rough to get our groove going, but soon we were cranking out full food boxes! At the end, we stacked them seven wide and seven high on wooden palettes where they could be plastic wrapped together for storage until Christmas distribution. 

I was at the beginning of the line with a crew of 6-8 people who helped build the cardboard boxes-- taking them from flattened to functional! I folded in the flaps of each new box, then held it in place while a student on my left or right swept two long strips of packing tape along the seams to secure the bottom. Then our box headed onward to receive first beans, then fruit, etc. Other than the periodic stickiness of the tape folding back on itself, our box-building teamwork was fantastic. Fluid! Flawless! ...alliteration:)  We even got so efficient, the boxes began to pile up behind the table... We knew that even if we didn't get around to filling them, they would be helpful and appreciated later. I probably folded about 250 of the 855 boxes that we completed!!! Doing such a straight-forward, "laborious" task was refreshing for a change. I love this kind of work. At such a fast pace, it was exhilarating, and with this purpose, quite heart-warming. 

I joined a smaller group in the back of the warehouse for the last half-hour of our time at BRM, re-sorting some boxes and adding potatoes and onions to several palettes that somehow missed (or didn't get enough of) those crucial ingredients. Some of the potatoes in the storage bins were rotting and smelled absolutely TERRIBLE... but we got those boxes all set and stacked. 

I found myself thinking about the people who would open each box, even praying for them briefly in the few seconds I had with their food. What part of their box would they be most excited about? Would they know how to cook the potatoes and onion? Would they even like canned pineapple? Would they have kids who could especially enjoy the random Laffy Taffy and Jolly Ranchers thrown in (I suppose anyone could do that!). Would they be warm enough on Christmas, and would they be surrounded by loved ones and friends? Suddenly I wasn't so concerned about our temporary, cold, dormitory living anymore. I felt so fortunate, even if my hands did smell like rotten vegetables! :)

Here is a link to the most recent "Gem State Minute" video update, which features our time at Boise Rescue Mission:

       http://vimeo.com/81859196

Check out the other GSAA Minutes on Vimeo, too, to see a bit of what we've been up to this year.