Journal Entry - 01/09/07 (Food Bank of the Rockies, Speaker)
HC395 Service Learning Trip

Today, we visited the Food Bank Of The Rockies - a large food warehouse and distribution center in Denver. We also had a guest speaker named Steve who spoke with us about the Denver prison system.

The two principles of service-learning that came out of these two events for me were:

1. The amazing things that can occur during community service - we moved over 15,000 pounds of food in about 6 hours.
2. The frustrations, disappointment, and anger that can occur:
1. When you see what problems are glaringly obvious and/or need to be solved.
2. When you see how little is being done to resolve an issue, or the incompetence of the officials or agencies assigned to the task of doing so - although part of this frustration can come from application of the "perfect standard" to an issue.

Working with our group at the food bank (and some other volunteers after lunch from Florida and Louisiana) was amazing for me. Although working with people yesterday at the kitchen was great, it was nice to do some assembly line work, just doing a single task repeatedly, joking with helpers around you, and competing lightly to see who could work the fastest, with a common mission regardless of who or what you are.

As mentioned before, it was very tough and yet exciting to talk with Steve about prison systems. On the one hand, it was shocking and mind-blowing to hear about some of the injustices and atrocities being committed:

• A member of a family notorious for committing crimes (and getting caught every time) served 18 years in solitary confinement for a $400 theft crime.
  
• When a person enters the Denver prison system, all forms of identification are shredded - driver's license, passport, etc., making it impossible to get a job upon release.

On the other hand, it was also encouraging to hear someone speak about issues and frustrations that I share, and to be hopeful change can happen, no matter how imperfect it may be.

I hope as the week goes on, we get to know each other's strengths and weaknesses and form a tight group to work together back home on some of these issues. I also hope that upon our return, we will at least continue to keep in contact with each other and work together in small or large ways to make the world a better place.