Stephen's Reflection

1. Today we helped out at the Veterans Hoptel. I was really surprised when we arrived, as I was expecting a much larger shelter-like building, but instead we pulled up to a small house in East Palo Alto. After receiving a tour of the house and the garden and meeting a veteran who lived there, we started to work. I started making thank you cards for people who have donated to the shelter, then I was in charge of filling out an attendance form to confirm all the volunteers who were there. I then helped out in the garden, planting cauliflower, lettuce, and a few other plants. Although somewhat laborious, the hardest thing we did was by far picking up all the trash that had been dumped in the field behind the house. I've never encountered so many horrid smells, and I had never in my life seen a crack pipe and needle casually laying in the dirt, but it did feel really good to see how much we had cleaned up by the end of it. 
2. My favorite part of today was cleaning up the trash. Although it was by far the most disgusting and most difficult, I enjoyed picking up the stuff that wasn't Swisher Sweets wrappers and underwear (there was a surprisingly large amount). Walking back onto the bus I saw how much we had cleaned and how much of a difference we had made since when we got there. That feeling was by far my favorite part.
3. From this experience i've really been exposed to how fortunate we are. I know that's super cliche, but it's true. Seeing the conditions of how the honorable people who serve our country and knowing that so many veterans are homeless or in extreme poverty is honestly gut-wrenching, and i'm so glad we were able to help even if it was in the tiniest ways.
4. In the future, I really hope to work with organizations like this again. I had a really amazing experience that I have never really had before. There was a mention of summer programs and similar things that we could take part in, and I would definatley help out in similar ways again and recommend it to others who want to make a difference as well.