Tung Wah Food Bank

On February 15, 2014, I went with one other student to help out at Tung Wah Food Bank in Mong Kok. We met up at Mong Kok East train station and took a minibus to an area near the food bank. We had to walk a bit to reach the location. When we arrived, there was a guy that told us what we needed to do. We were to pack and organize food for those who came by to pick up food. People with diabetes or other special conditions would get different amounts and types of food compared to the rest of the people. Examples of food we packed included macaroni, instant noodles, luncheon meat, canned fish, canned beef, corn, canned mushrooms, backed beans, Horlick, Ovaltine, eggs, oatmeal, and milk formula. A lot of food are canned because many of the people who applied to get food either do not have a stove to cook a lot of food or are homeless. The people/families come to collect their food once every week, each time bringing home a week's worth of food. Coupons are also distributed to them to allow them to buy other kinds of food from supermarkets and other stores. After all, eating instant noodles and canned food too often is detrimental to your health. 

When we packed food for the people/families, we first would need to look at this sheet to see how much of each item we needed. Because it was in Cantonese, I had a bit of difficulty with it, but I knew most of the words and I understood it pretty quickly. We would put the food on a cart. With the person/family waiting outside, we would push the cart down into the waiting area and help them put it in the bags they brought. For the first timers, we would provide the bags for them. In total, I think I helped pack food for 6-8 people/families.

When we had time, we helped restock the shelves neatly. We opened cardboard boxes with the help of scissors and took the food out to stack on the shelves. We also organized bags of 2kg rice.

Overall, this service has taught me to be thankful for the food I have. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have enough money to buy good, healthy food for consumption. This service was fun and enjoyable. I am sad to know that they are soon moving somewhere else, but I hope that I can serve in another food bank in the future.