Up until a few months ago, I never really understood the problems of the homeless. I always knew there were homeless people in the world. However I never knew the multitude of such and how hard it was for these people. I did not realize hat these people are regular people who like everyone else went towards a dream, but have been torn down by the dark nature of this world with their hard work no longer a suffice for the basic of living.


I decided I needed to find some answers. One volunteer experience would go on to forever leave a stain on my heart, which would forever change the way I saw through my eyes everyday.

When I went to the homeless shelter I was at the expectation of seeing rude old people. But what I did not expect was to see so many good people and innocent children.

I still clearly remember the moment I stepped into that shelter; it was like a deception. What else could it be? How can such people exist that can not even afford the basic necessities to live. Where was the American dream that was so overhyped? These are things that happen in the third world not in our own cities. It was like I stepped into a dark hidden world camouflaged by fake smiles. However, appalling, I realized this was reality, a reality that may never revolutionize and possibly will be the future of several in this frightful economy.

Now as I got out of my mind from the dilemma of realizing that people did have a life where starvation was gnawing at them every second of there lives, I started noticing the shelter.

The shelter was stuck with the stench of cheap hot dogs, hot dogs which are ranked as one of the worst foods to digest and even shown to increase your risk of colorectal cancer by 21%. This was the food these poor souls were deemed to eat and yet these people ate them with such gratitude and happiness to have even this, while rest of our society throws out food in kilos.

The fact was I came to the shelter to help the homeless, yet a 30 pound child went to give me more help understanding life.

The child called himself Chris. He was ghostlike and seemed like he would fade in thin air if he was not immediately filled with food.

He stared helplessly at me through his big brown eyes. When I came over he went to ask gently if there was any food he could have. With this requisition I asked him where his parents were, hardly audible he mumbled that his mother was dead and that he lived in the streets with his father. He had come alone to the shelter, which I later found out was due to the fact that his father spent any cent of money he found on liquor and drugs. Heartbroken by this and the realization that he was probably not the only one like this. I quickly assigned him to a brown faded table marked 12, with three metal chairs.

As the day progressed I went on to sit with him and talk to him, finding out that he lived in a house before and had a life to match any ordinary kids; however, after his mother’s death, his father had given up on life, quit his job, tried to drown his sorrows with the devils drink, and had his house foreclosed.

I brought Chris’ meal over; it melted my heart as his eyes brightened up as if I had just given him life itself. Losing all his possessions he still seemed to have the courage to push forward and even went to be able to produce a smile, with his smile being like a door hiding the horrors this life exposed him to.

As the day progressed, I went to see children beg for more food. Which these kids did not deserve this lifestyle, what have they done to deserve to lack the basic needs for humanity. To have innocent souls be tormented in a world they have no control is why we as humanity are failing.


The deed I have made to this world has been like a small comet that hits an earth. It may not be a big hit to the world, but at least it will make a dent to a better world.

My small volunteer experience went to give me the understanding that community service is not a service but a privilege.