During the week of February 17, 2020, members of East Cobb Branch participated in 5-days YMCA School Break Lunch Program.
The program’s goal is to serve meals to children (who normally got meals at school) over February break. It needs many volunteers to help deliver and serve lunches to local kids. Without the program, these children may not be able to have a healthy meal when school is out. The program also inspires volunteers to communicate with the children.
On Monday, February 17th, 2 members of the East Cobb Branch went to the YMCA to pack lunches consisting of snacks, a sandwich, and serving of fruit. These lunches are designed to help the children meet their daily nutritional needs. Once all the lunches were packed, the volunteers went to the sites to give out the meals.
On Tuesday, February 18th, 3 members of the East Cobb Branch went to Clifton Ridge to pack lunches. The meal assembly was greatly expedited, which was greatly appreciated as rain poured onto the site. Despite this rain discouraging too many people from coming out, the bus driver instead drove the bus around the neighborhood, stopping to pass out lunches when children or parents showed up in the doorframes of their houses. Soon all the lunches were handed out and the volunteers rushed back to their vehicles to get out of the rain.
On Wednesday, February 19th, 3 members of the East Cobb Branch went to Hillcrest to pack lunches. Most of the children were already outside standing in a line. This meant that the meals were passed out quickly, which was greatly appreciated because it was very chilly on site. Despite this cold weather causing hands to freeze and discouraging too many people from arriving, the volunteers handed out mittens of different colors so that the children could play outside. Soon all the lunches were handed out and children were playing with the parachute, a football, and the game, Simon Says.
On Thursday, 5 members of the East Cobb Branch went to Clifton Ridge to pack lunches. The passing out of meals was executed quickly, which was greatly appreciated as rain poured onto the site. Despite this rain discouraging too many people from arriving, the bus driver once again drove around the neighborhood so that the volunteers wouldn’t have to stand out in the pouring rain. The volunteers would sometimes have to come out into the rain sometimes, but it was worth it! Soon all the lunches were handed out and the volunteers rushed back to their vehicles to get out of the rain.
On Friday, February 21st, 2 members of the East Cobb Branch went to Clifton Ridge to pack lunches. Chick-Fil-A had provided lunches, so the volunteers didn’t have to pack them. The lunches went quickly and soon they were all gone even though there were some children who still hadn’t gotten their sandwich and snack. This caught us all by surprise and one volunteer remarked that maybe Chick-Fil-A sandwiches encouraged more kids to show up than the normal meals. With this final lunch packing event, the YMCA and volunteers finished their February break packing and school could once more provide lunches.
Attendance: Emily Sun (12 hrs), Austin Wu (2.5 hrs), Larry Cai (5 hrs), Eileen Zhang (7 hrs), Faith Huang (5 hrs), Albert Wu (2.5 hrs), Richard Wu (2.5 hrs)
Reported by Emily Sun
