I never thought I'd find myself sifting through moldy clementines in a South Philadelphia warehouse during a college spring break. And yet here I am after a full day of service at Philabundance, surrounded by my fellow fruit sifters, considering the pounds of spoiled citrus we handled today. And I'm happy.
Today was not glamorous. It was sticky, smelly, monotonous and a bit draining. When I close my eyes I see rotten clementines. But I feel oddly fulfilled. I've been learning more and more this week that the most obvious rewards of service aren't necessarily, for lack of a better word, the most rewarding. I know that the work we did today, however unspectacular it might've seemed, will lead to spectacular results for this community. So I'm proud to work behind the scenes.
I'm even prouder of my group members. The work we've done at Philabundance so far has been fairly brainless, but we've used every minute of box sorting and fruit separating to our advantage. We laugh together, learn together and share stories (both silly and serious) during our time in the warehouse, and it just makes our free time better. It's a joy to be surrounded by people who choose to be happy in the middle of the (literal) muck. Everything just seems to be falling into place this week. Or as Tray might explain it, "boom boom."
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