Monday, April 22, 2013

LINK project at Salvation Army by Dana Tell






 .      I volunteered at The Salvation Army in Mattoon.  They provide services for the people of Coles and Cumberland counties.
2.    I have learned about poverty and food insecurity in class.  The Salvation Army gives food out of their food bank to those who need it each month.  I am also learning about families in crises.  Some of the families they help are going through crises.
3.    The Salvation Army has a family resource development specialist or case manager that can provide other services to people in our community.  If she cannot help them, she can give a referral to other organizations that can. I learned that there are several other resources families in our community can have access.  Knowing this will come in handy when I hear of someone who needs these services. 
4.    The Food Bank at the Salvation provides community members with groceries.  This provides a small amount of food security each month because residents know that if they happen to not be able to get food any other way that they can get food through the food bank.  This allows people to get a little help each month to help with food cost, and their supply of food.  Having volunteers in this position can help the organization keep overall cost low and help with the flow of people who need help with the food bank.
5.      Reading about the fact it happens is very different than seeing that it happens in my community.  Some of the clients I know from seeing them in the community.  We were busy in spurts.  We had no one come in for an hour and then people from three different households came in.  When they talked they realized they were all eligible to get food from the Salvation Army, so they came in.  We also had two people come in together because one of them did not have transportation to the Salvation Army.  

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