3/15/2015
Today, our service was to perform Random Acts of
Kindness throughout the city as we explored. For my first act of
kindness, I paid for a young girl’s meal at McDonald's who was standing in
front of me. She was very confused as to
why I did it and I simply replied ‘because pay it forward.’ Hopefully because of my act of kindness, she
will feel inclined to do the same in the future and make someone’s day a little
bit better.
Another act of kindness that I performed with my
friend Peter was buying a homeless man and women a coffee and food from
McDonald’s. They were very grateful when
we handed them the food, and we got to talk to them to hear their story. The man and the women moved up to New York
from Florida and bought an apartment online.
When they got to New York, the apartment deal ended up being a
scam. He lost his job and she fell ill,
and before they knew it everything they had was gone and they were on the
street homeless. They are now trying to get enough money to make it back to
Florida, and I feel that through our random act of kindness we are bringing
them one step closer to that goal.
While we were talking to the couple, they mentioned
that they ‘live’ on the path: The NJ transit line. Peter thought it would be a good idea to go
there to see if there were other homeless people we could help. At Penn Station, we purchased coffee and
bagels and handed them out to the homeless people we saw down there. I was extremely happy that my random act of
kindness helped the homeless men and women of New York, but was very sad when I
saw the NYPD come and wake the homeless people up to get out of Penn Station. They have nowhere else to go, and they were
not bothering anyone. This just goes to
show that even though our random acts of kindness help in the moment, there is
much more to be done to improve the quality of life for the homeless
population.
3/16/2015
Today we woke up and made peanut
butter and jelly sandwich bag lunches to be handed out to the homeless men and
women around New York. We started at
Port Authority, and then went to Grand Central Station and Penn Station. By going to these places, I was able to
become more comfortable with the NYC community.
Before this trip, I had never been on a Subway, to Grand Central, or to
Port Authority. Immersing myself in the NYC culture gives me a greater
appreciation for the city and its diversity as this is what gives the city
life. My experience in New York also
allowed me to understand the homeless people and their struggle on a deeper
level. Most of the people who are
homeless did not plan for this to happen to them, and at one point were just like
us. It is sad to see them on the streets
with most people that walk by ignoring them. I am
definitely guilty of ignoring the homeless, or ‘turning the other cheek’ at
times, but by dealing with them head on I now see them in a different light.
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