I never had much experience volunteering before high school. That is why when I started volunteering at the Bowery Mission, a soup kitchen/homeless shelter in downtown Manhattan the fall semester of my sophomore year, I never expected much to come of it. But for the rest of my high school career, once a week during the fall semester I would go there after school and be ready to help in whatever way I could. Initially, I started because my school required me to do community service hours. But soon, I grew to love it, and since I stopped before I went to college, I have realized that the Bowery Mission taught me many things about myself and others.

The first thing it taught me was to look at poverty in a completely different way. Before, poverty and hunger were, to me, abstract concepts. It wasn’t something I had much access with directly, and was thus ignorant about it. I think the main problem is, is that I thought of poverty in terms of facts and figures, and not in terms of people. Being poor is something that happens to others, far away from normal Americans, rather than right under our noses. We all have the stereotypical image of a poor person. Most likely it is that of a third-world refugee in worn clothes living in a hut with no electricity or running water. Or it could be the homeless person sitting on the street begging for change. Surely, most of us think, that such a fate could not befall us or someone we love.

Many of the people I served and worked alongside were formerly homeless or poor, and were living in the shelter that worked in conjunction with the kitchen. As I got to know them and befriended them, I was always taken surprised to hear their backstories. It wasn’t that they had lived some insane life of hardship and pain prior to arriving there. Actually, it was the opposite. Most of them had lived what we would consider “normal” lives before becoming homeless. They were not the stereotypical image of poverty that I mentioned earlier, they were people who I would have never thought could end up in this situation. Through every one of the people I met I saw a different aspect to poverty that I had never realized before.

I am not going to go on a soapbox rant about how we should do more to help the poor and homeless. Another critical point I learned while working in a homeless shelter, is just how difficult it is to stop the cycle of poverty. Poverty is a hugely complicated issue that has many different facets and solutions, and no one piece of legislation or act of kindness will reverse it. Even with the help of soup kitchens and homeless shelters, the impoverished are still at risk. I remember when I would serve meals to the people who came, thinking I was single-handedly eradicating poverty and hunger, but then come back the next week and see even more show up to be fed.

I also remember all the non-glamorous jobs that I would do behind the scenes. The work of a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter does not stop at serving people meals. There is so much cleaning, and preparing, and organizing, that makes sure all those people are fed and housed properly. I would spend hours sorting out vegetables, bread, and other food items in the pantry. And even more hours wiping down tables, mopping floors, and washing equipment. Every time I would come home I was exhausted, and on top of that I would have homework and other responsibilities to take care of. Those hours laboring at the Mission taught me just how much work these soup kitchens do every day and how much must be done just so they can serve the community effectively.

And the final thing it taught me is that at the end of the day it is all worth it. Every minute spent mopping floors, sorting boxes, and washing dishes was gratifying in the end. Because I got to meet some incredible people, do some amazing work, and gain a whole new perspective on life. That is why I implore those reading to get involved with volunteering. It does not have to be at a homeless shelter. It can be anywhere, just so long as you feel satisfied helping there, and you will have picked the right place. I promise that although it may be hard work, it will never feel like a waste of time.