On December 19th, 2015, the South Boston Branch, with Secretary Yuhang Zhang, co-President Christie Yu, and members Jeannie Ruffley, Kripa Solanki, Melinda Yu, Brandon Xu, Yifei Zheng, and Daniel Zhou, hosted a food drive at the Lexington Stop and Shop for the AYLUS 2015 Food Drive event in partnership with the Greater Boston Food Bank. The objective of this event was to provide holiday meals for the local homeless.
During the many hours spent shivering in 30ºF weather, the South Boston Branch held up signs advertising the event; played and sang along to holiday music to attract attention; spoke to individual Stop and Shop customers in hopes of receiving more donations; and exchanged monetary donations for hundreds of non-perishable goods.
This altruism, however, was not the only kindness shown that day. In one particularly touching instance, a man, who had been collecting cans for a few cents of redemption to keep food on his own table, presented the South Boston Branch with a ticket stub, the only thing in his wallet. This stub was a refund receipt with a value of $6.00. Although this amount is comparably small to the total number of donations received that day, for this man to give away the few dollars he possessed to provide holiday meals for those even a little less fortunate than him moved all our hearts. It is a memory we will not forget.
The South Boston Branch hopes this season, people will embody the holiday spirit and show their care for the community. Overall, the 2015 Food Drive was a success for the South Boston Branch, which collected hundreds of non-perishable goods as a result of their perseverance and dedication, even in the freezing weather.
