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Last year, a few members from my fraternity, including myself, decided that although we do philanthropic events year round, we rarely perform community service through volunteer work. Soon after, we set up a date to volunteer at Feed My Starving Children in Eagan, MN. Feed My Starving Children receives such a large amount of volunteer help that the only time made available for us to come and give support was 2 pm on a Wednesday afternoon. Needless to say, many members of our chapter were unable to help with this service work, either from class, work, or other activities. However, the small group of us that made the trip agreed to do our best job and come in with a friendly and open mind.

At the time, most of us did not know what Feed My Starving entailed. Put simply, it is a non-profit Christian organization that assembles food packages aimed specifically for malnourished children and sends these packages to more than 70 countries around the globe. The organization is also involved in fundraising activities, but that will be saved for another discussion. The main premise of our job was to weigh out specific amounts of rice, soy nuggets, and dehydrated vegetables to be packaged and boxed for shipment. These packages did also contain essential vitamins for the children to aid growth and wellness.

When I was at Feed My Starving Children,  I noticed several things that really affected not only my thoughts on world hunger but also my thoughts on compassion. First off, the food that we were packaging was such a different level of quality than what most of us receive in the United States, even in simple meals such as fast food or carry-out. I started think how all of us should be more aware and caring for the millions and millions of people who will think of these foods that we package as an answer to their prayers, or a true sign of compassion. The next thing that caught my gaze involved some of our fellow volunteers.

When we arrived, there was a group of school-children from a local middle school getting prepared to volunteer as well. Some of them were really energetic, and some were a bit quiet. However, near the end, I noticed not only how many boxes of food the middle-school class had packaged (I remember it was close to 150 meals), but more importantly I noticed that the children were having a very fun time. It got to a point that we were actually racing with them to see how many meals we could package! The main point is that these children, who knew little to none about the suffering of children their age on the other side of the globe, they full-heartedly cared about these people. They showed tremendous zealous and excitement towards helping others they have never met. That is true compassion...