Anna Zusi ‘22, finds joy in serving the community.
This summer 25 students were accepted in the CSGC grants program. These grants are funded due to the generous support of the Cost, Earle/Mendillo and Workman families, who established endowment funds to support the community and public service endeavors of future generations of Deerfield students. For more information on these grants please visit: https://deerfield.edu/csgc/grants
Working with Second Helpings this summer has been a rewarding and very enjoyable experience. I not only got to know those who I worked with to serve the meal, but also those we were serving, which was by far my favorite part of this experience. I enjoyed learning little things about everyone through our weekly conversations such as Garth’s coffee order, two creams and two sugars, and Regina’s preference of sleeping with the fan on at night. As the weeks continued, the faces became increasingly familiar, and our conversations grew in depth.
Throughout the weeks, I began to develop a rhythm in the meal preparation process. First came the lemonade, where I was the designated taste tester, making it slightly too sweet in preparation for the ice cubes we would later add, then came the take out bags. Because these bags were particularly difficult to open, I would “pre-open” them, separating them at the top, and tossing them up to fill them with air.
We discovered this technique within the first couple of weeks, learning that it would later simplify the process of packing the to-go containers in the bags. Then, at 4:00 pm, we would begin scooping the meal into the containers; load them into the bags along with salt and pepper packets, and a granola bar. From there we took the meals to the take out windows, and served the meal from 4:30 pm -5:30 pm, experiencing quite the rush of people at the very beginning of this process. I loved experiencing yet another summer working with Second Helpings, and hopefully, I will be able to continue on to my third summer here after this coming school year.
