Volunteering at Home of Love's Soup Kitchen
Since I still have a few more weeks before I start working again, I decided to donate some time to work in a soup kitchen of a local homeless shelter called Home of Love at the Nam Chung Estate. I went with some of my fellow AWA (American Women's Association) ladies. The Home of Love is part of the Missionaries of Charity, which is a Catholic congregation started by Mother Teresa. Part of their mission is to give "Wholehearted and free service to the poorest of the poor". The Home of Love opened in in Hong Kong in 1983 and has been servicing the community ever since.
We took the MTR to Nam Chung stop (only about 10 minutes from Central). Doesn't take long to get outside of cushie Hong Kong. This is a close neighbor to the Sham Shui Po district which I referenced in one of my June posts.
The shelter buildings
Outside courtyard. People started to gather in these common areas before the meals were served
The men and women have separate dining halls. This is the men's before set up.
When we arrived, they weren't 100% sure what to do with all of us
Soon we got going and worked right along with the sisters
Almost all of the food is donated. You can never have too much rice.
These 3 women work here regularly and they were happy to have the extra help. With 10 of us, we powered through the prep work.
I got put on bok choy and Chinese spinach duty
The rest of the group was in charge of garlic and ginger
Cooking up the Bok Choy. This was the largest wok I have ever seen.
The women's dinning hall. Not nearly as many women as there were men. The women also have to serve themselves...
...but we served the men. Their meal consisted of rice, steamed bok choy and a pork with carrots.
You have to be registered to receive the meals here, but stragglers hang around outside. After the "registered" people have been served, they give out day old danishes and muffins (donated of course) to other homeless people standing by.
I know there are rooms here so wasn't sure what the beds were for. The men in the background were eating inside, but not sure why they weren't with the rest of the men. Mysteries to be solved on my next trip back.
Since this volunteer day is on a Tuesday, I only know for sure that I will be going again next week as that whole work thing will soon get in the way. Hopefully I will be able to make it back a few more times on random holidays. It is so rewarding to see the results of your efforts take effect immediately.
We took the MTR to Nam Chung stop (only about 10 minutes from Central). Doesn't take long to get outside of cushie Hong Kong. This is a close neighbor to the Sham Shui Po district which I referenced in one of my June posts.
The shelter buildings
Outside courtyard. People started to gather in these common areas before the meals were served
The men and women have separate dining halls. This is the men's before set up.
When we arrived, they weren't 100% sure what to do with all of us
Soon we got going and worked right along with the sisters
Almost all of the food is donated. You can never have too much rice.
These 3 women work here regularly and they were happy to have the extra help. With 10 of us, we powered through the prep work.
I got put on bok choy and Chinese spinach duty
The rest of the group was in charge of garlic and ginger
Cooking up the Bok Choy. This was the largest wok I have ever seen.
The women's dinning hall. Not nearly as many women as there were men. The women also have to serve themselves...
...but we served the men. Their meal consisted of rice, steamed bok choy and a pork with carrots.
You have to be registered to receive the meals here, but stragglers hang around outside. After the "registered" people have been served, they give out day old danishes and muffins (donated of course) to other homeless people standing by.
I know there are rooms here so wasn't sure what the beds were for. The men in the background were eating inside, but not sure why they weren't with the rest of the men. Mysteries to be solved on my next trip back.
Since this volunteer day is on a Tuesday, I only know for sure that I will be going again next week as that whole work thing will soon get in the way. Hopefully I will be able to make it back a few more times on random holidays. It is so rewarding to see the results of your efforts take effect immediately.
How do you contact the nuns before volunteering? I'm interested and would like to know how to get involved.
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