Giving A Hand Up to alleviate hunger

By Tammy Rubin

SAN DIEGO — Homeless beggars make me uncomfortable. It’s not the ragged clothes they wear or the folded signs they hold, but rather the fact that they subconsciously force me to look within myself and consider my wealth and the materialistic life I live.  Just as I begin to contemplate the value of the crumpled dollar in my pocket, the light turns green, and I pretend not to look as I drive away. Their face lasts just a moment, but the guilt acquired within minutes clings to my body like a weight.

I began volunteering with the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry at Jewish Family Service  in hopes of making a difference—not just a dollar here and there. I wanted to make a change. Within the past few years, I have coordinated and participated in dozens of food drives, spent countless Sunday mornings in the food pantry or at military distributions, and seen the face of hunger more times than I can count.

Though homeless people were the only ones I considered unfortunate, I soon came to realize how unexpected the face of hunger truly is. On a daily basis, the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry at JFS helps military families who struggle to make ends meets, refugees from Iraq and Burma who knew nothing aside from the internment camps they called home, and, of course, the homeless men and women on the side of the street, begging for and never knowing where their next meal will come from.

I am part of a group of teens, from more than ten different high schools, that have come together to support the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry and make a meaningful difference in our community. Last year alone, Hand Up teen leaders raised more than ten thousand dollars, ran more than fifteen different food drives, participated in more than eight thousand hours of community service, and collected more than five tons of food. We met with members of the State Senate and Assembly here in San Diego, and in their offices in Sacramento, in hopes of changing the source of the problem itself; many of the bills we lobbied for were signed by the Governor within only a few months.

As young adults, we often take for granted what the world does for us; seldom do we take the time to give back unconditionally. Admittedly, I’m often consumed with childish, covetous desires that worm their way into my everyday life, but these things are outweighed by my commitment to create meaningful and measurable change in my community.  Through my ongoing work with the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry at JFS I have been able to lighten the load of thousands of San Diegans who don’t know where there next meal is coming from, and you can too!

Here’s how you can give a “hand up” to people in need

  1. Vote to alleviate hunger in San Diego by voting for the hand up youth pantry’s $25,000 Pepsi refresh project every remaining day in November.

 

2.    Support Hand Up Youth Food Pantry at JFS by hosting a Thanksgiving or Hanukkah food drive.

 3.   Dedicate a leaf on our giving tree with a donation to the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry.

  • Help us continue to provide emergency food assistance by naming part of the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry Giving Tree.  Do it for yourself, or in honor of a special occasion–a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, a new baby, birthday, or in memory of a special person.  Click here to make donation to the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry

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Tammy Rubin is Hand Up Youth Food Pantry Student Executive Committee Co-Chair and a  12th grade student at San Diego Jewish Academy