Salvation Army

What better way to spend Valentine's Day than to start my community service project for the final paper? Last semester, my roommate and I volunteered at the Salvation Army, and even without this class I planned to continue this service. It really is nice though to be able to share my experiences at this place.

The final paper is a long time away, so I decided to jot down a few things about today's experience to jog my memory later. First, I should start off by explaining exactly what we do when volunteering at the Salvation Army. We prepare meals from scratch, serve them to the needy individuals in the Ithaca community, and then clean up the mess. This process usually takes about three hours, which is extraordinary considering that the meal is typically for fifty to seventy people.

Today's menu was outstanding: homemade meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh vegetable and tofu stir fry, a large salad, and blueberry crisp with coconut ice cream for dessert. The meatloaf had ground beef, onions, spices, and spaghetti sauce on top. I've never seen such a large pan of meat loaf in my life - and there were two of them! The mashed potatoes were made from fresh ingredients - potatoes, butter, milk, and chives and salt for flavor. At home, we typically only eat the powder mashed potatoes, and honestly, the difference between these two styles is tremendous. The gravy was unbelievable - beef broth with slightly sauteed mushrooms and corn starch for thickness. It was a very nice complement to the meatloaf and mashed potatoes. The vegetable stir fry contained red, yellow, orange and green peppers, celery, mushrooms, onions, and tofu - it was incredibly colorful, and although I didn't get to sample this, I'm sure it was also quite tasty. The blueberry crisp comprised of frozen blueberries, and a topping made of oatmeal, butter, and brown sugar. I would not have imagined this combination to be any good, but coconut ice cream on top was actually a great addition to an already delicious dessert.

The people we served were very appreciative and the kitchen staff was a lot of fun. Three hours done, and two to go for this project. I plan on doing much more than that this semester though - it was a lot of fun and it was great learning how to prepare these dishes for myself and others.