Overheated by Ava

Overheated by Ava - April 2022 Scholarship Essay

This experience is rather embarrassing, but I think about what I learned from it nearly every single day. The summer before entering college I wanted to volunteer for my community while I still lived in the area. I found a local, non-profit food bank company nearby and scheduled a morning to help prepare meals. I didn’t know anybody there and I had no idea what to expect.

The environment was as expected, a small kitchen with kind people. I helped cut and package various foods into containers to hand out to the public for lunch that day. At one point, there was a conveyor-belt system made. A container was being passed down from volunteer to volunteer and we each added a portion of food into the tray. This process felt extremely rushed from my perspective and overwhelmed me because of my anxiety disorder. The system they had made was very simple, yet it stressed me out so much I almost passed out. I fell to the ground and the kind people around me helped me sit down somewhere. I ended up vomiting in a nearby trashcan and leaving almost immediately after.

Like I said, this experience was super embarrassing. I was not sick at all. The stress alone from a simple conveyor-belt system combined with the heat of the kitchen was somehow enough to take me out. I felt defeated and useless. But, I kept reflecting on my time there. The people who helped me were some of the sweetest folks I had ever come across and I missed working with them. Along with that, I was sad that I never got to help hand meals directly to those in the food bank who needed them. I wanted to interact with those in the community that I wanted to help.

Soon after that day, I decided to go back and show up for another morning of meal preparation. The other volunteers were excited to see that I had come back and was feeling well. I was able to help out and not be as overwhelmed as I was before. While my first time at that place was humiliating, I was able to overcome it. That experience taught me to not give up because of one awkward instance. One embarrassing moment is not enough to stop me from doing what I want to do. I could have easily never gone back to that place again, but I continuously prepared meals weekly for the community that summer. I’ll never forget my time there.