Service Learning

The problem is that not all the people in Japan have access to nutritious and healthy food. People in Japan throw away about 6,000 metric tons of food each day. Food Bank or Second Harvest tries to take a small percentage of food and give it to the 460,000 people who don�t get the nutritious food they need. Second harvest does not pay for the food because they pick from the large variety of waste food to feed the people. Of these 460,000 people many are disabled, elderly, orphaned, home less or have a low income rate. Second Harvest is a non-profit organization that helps companies keep from disposing food that is safe to be eaten by someone. The company uses the food that stores; food manufacturers or importers cannot sell if it is safe for human consumption. This helps the companies save money and positively influence the community. The companies save 100 yen per kilogram for giving their eatable food to second harvest, which helps the hungry people. Second Harvest cooks the food and properly stores the food in a small warehouse until the people will eat it. There are people all over Japan who need food and second harvest brings it to them.

I chose to help second Harvest because if I was not able to get nutritious food I would like someone to help me get it. I think that this will help people stay alive and survive so that they could someday earn enough money to get themselves food. I also think that it is nice to give people food because it gives you a warm feeling when you do it and it makes you think that you did the right thing helping someone eat.

My action plan is to go on two or three Saturdays to help unpack boxes of food and cook the food for the distribution to the people in Ueno Park and Sakurabashi (Asakusa). I would start working at about 10:00 am and finish at about 12:30 pm. This is about 2.5 hours so I would work two or three Saturdays to fulfill my five hours of needed work.

Reflection

I worked on one Saturday in January. When I was there, I was given an apron that says "I will not complain!" I worked for 2 1/2 hours relabling boxes of miso. The boxes ranged from 5 kilo to 30 kilo. All together, I labled 131 boxes of miso soup. I nearly froze to death as well because I was working o;utside in the cold. That day the menu was: veggies, hotdogs, powdered eggs, miso, and a small desert. I was too young to help cook.

Food Bank Japan is made up of an office, warehouse, and the area outside. in the warehouse, the boxes of miso, packages of tomato souce, and other food is stored. The office is where the menu board, desks and supplies are kept. Outside is where the food is cooked. The company has four portable burners, tanks of gas to fuel the burners, and a bunch of big metal cooking pots.

On my second trip to food bank to fulfill my 5 hours, I wnt with my father. We were on the bread team, so we sorted bread. I helped by sorting the different types of bread in to different piles. After, we counted how many of each type of bread we had for the inventory lists. Next we cut different types of bread, like garlic, and raisin. The man incharge of the bread commitee cut the bread, My dad put the pieces of bread into plastic bags, aand I tied the bags shut. We also put pastries into bags to give out at Yoyogi park. I also helped with making the miso soup by thinning out the mixture of miso from the boxes. I also stirred the rest of the miso. I didn't have enough time to go to Yoyogi Park. On my second trip, the menu was miso soup, bread, pudding, vegetables, and tomato meat sauce.