When I first entered the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen four years ago, I had no idea that this colorful cafeteria would change who I was and where I was headed. At the time I was a college freshman who had answered the call to serve based on campus flyers. When I reported for duty, the director handed me a meal ticket and I explained that I was here to volunteer, not to eat. I have learned that one can never tell which members of the community hide the pain of hunger. Besides, TASK has an open door policy. If you’re hungry, TASK will feed you. No questions asked.

I fell in love with the soup kitchen. Over school vacations, I work full-time at TASK. When school starts, I schedule my classes so I can still volunteer two-three days a week. It’s really not the gloomy place that television makes soup kitchens out to be. It’s hard to stay gloomy while eating a good meal. I’ve made good friends at TASK.

I also tutor there. The Trenton Area Soup Kitchen not only nourishes the city physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. Twice a day the cafeteria becomes a classroom with students enrolled in the Adult Education Program. We teach basic education, GED preparation, and computer skills.

The TASK artist group, known as the “A-Team”, provides an

avenue for self expression. The walls of the soup kitchen are covered in bright, bold statements of self worth that create a welcoming atmosphere.

At TASK, I do whatever needs to be done. There’s always an adventure. Be it playing “house” in the kids’ room, helping frame pictures for the A-Team of artists, creating the monthly trivia contest, photocopying educational materials, wrapping flatware, tutoring, telling jokes or merely listening to the accounts of someone’s crazy day, there’s always something to be done. I don’t know what Trenton would do or how it would survive without TASK. I know that the children that eat at the soup kitchen face enough challenges. One can’t do well in school, in work, or in life with a stomach growling all day, every day. Through the Adult Education Program, I’ve seen what happens when one does not succeed in school. Trenton’s children need nourishment so they can learn how to build a better life for themselves and for the city. The hope of a brighter future for Trenton depends on the nutrition offered daily by TASK.

One of my teachers once said that all the bad things in the world happen as a result of hunger. Injustices occur because someone is starved. It may be hunger for food, for knowledge, for love, etc. But it’s hunger just the same. TASK is working to satisfy this hunger on a daily basis with every meal, every lesson, every caring smile, and every helping hand.