Blessing bags by Cameron

Blessing bags by Cameron - January 2017 Scholarship Essay

I remember a few years back my mother had come to me late at night and told me about a volunteer idea her and her coworkers came up with. They would make up bags of their extra, unused toiletries and warm clothing to hand out to those who would need it more than they would. In this case, it was the homeless men, women, and children around the city of Richmond, Virginia.

This project, which was later named "blessing bags," started with only 20 bags; not quite enough to share around the city. Not only that, but those 20 bags was quite the amount of work for just me and my mother. Although, as the months went on, we were able to recruit more people and receive more donations to help distribute throughout the city.

However, just as things seemed to be running smoothly, we realized that going around the whole city was entirely the wrong way to distribute the bags. Many homeless would end up confused and not receive anything because they would have no idea where we would be. So, we came up with a plan to reach out to soup kitchens and churches in the city and tell them to spread the word to where we would be that day. We also decided to set up in parks; that way we can help as many people as we could.

Helping the blessing bag project has also been an eye-opening experience for me. Every time that I go out and help the homeless, I feel terrible at the amount of children I see that aren't in school, aren't warm enough at night, and without a home. Every day that I help with this project I thank my lucky stars and appreciate all that I have. I sometimes speak with the homeless man and women about why they were on the streets, most were either laid off, kicked out of their house, or had an injury who's medical bills sucked their saving dry. These stories are always the ones that drive me to help more and more each time I go out into the world.