Helping in a Soup Kitchen

During the past few months, Zach and I have made friends with several married couples who live in our neighborhood.  One of the couples invited us to a Facebook group called City Lights.  According to the 'About' section,  "City Lights exists to mobilize the people of God to be an active influence and transformative presence within our local community."  I joined the group not knowing if I would actually get involved in any of the activities.

A couple of weeks ago, City Lights posted that they were going to help at the Busanjin Soup Kitchen on November 10th.  I literally thought, "why the hell not?"  Haha.  Before coming to Korea, I'd like to think that I was a fairly active volunteer.  Since coming here, I've not volunteered for anything and I thought it was about time I did something.

I want you to know that I am writing this, not to toot my own horn, but to let you know that there is a homeless community in Busan.  And, if you are in the area, this is a great chance for you to get involved.

Outside of one of the Busanjin subway exits, a large tent is set up where the soup kitchen is.  Several churches are responsible for running the kitchen.  Several people from one of the churches wake up really early to prepare all of the food.  There is a church service that begins at 11 am and when the service is over, the food is served.  Our group and a few other volunteers lined up and the members of the church filled the trays with food.  We then took the trays to those waiting for food.  The whole process of serving the food took less than 30 minutes.

It definitely felt good to help those in need.  Though I probably won't go every Saturday, I plan to go as often as possible.

Someone made a video of what happens at the soup kitchen and I will share that video with you to give you a better idea of what it's all about.