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-->        St. Stanislaus Catholic Church Soup Kitchen -Lauren Zitkus

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I volunteered at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church Soup Kitchen. Which is located in Chicago, Illinois.

Going to the soup kitchen reflects many of the concepts we have learned in class. Some examples would be hunger and homelessness. We talk about these subjects in most if not every FCS course I have taken. For example when we leaned about how funding for soup kitchens and other services are becoming less and less. I saw this at the soup kitchen I volunteered less. It is mostly the volunteers that bring in the food for the individuals who come in.I know the bakery in my town donates all their leftover food to my Grandma on Sunday and she bring it in to the soup kitchen on Monday.  

I networked by talking with all of the other individuals that work at the soup kitchen. My grandma and a lot of the others there volunteer every week. Talking to Sister is one of the coolest things; she has so many stories about the soup kitchen and the people she has gotten to meet.

The soup kitchen has a big effect on the community around it. The soup kitchen is open Monday to Friday and they can get food as many times as they want as long as everyone has had one meal. This soup kitchen helps the community around it because the homeless individuals in that area are getting enough food to feed them for the day.

I have always enjoyed going to the soup kitchen with my grandma. We have been going since I can remember. It is crazy to see some of the people that were coming when I was nine years old are still coming now when I am twenty-one years old. It is sad to see how many people are homeless in the city of Chicago, but every person that comes into the soup kitchen never looks depressed or sad, they always have smiles on their faces. I know that Family Services is the right major for me by just the feeling I get going to the soup kitchen and the way I feel after I leave the soup kitchen. The connections you feel with the individuals that come into the soup kitchen is just unreal. I really enjoy helping others and cannot wait to do much more.