ASL in Rome Blog

I really enjoyed participating in the panini run in Rome, Italy. Providing food to the homeless is very eye opening and rewarding. When comparing this volunteer experience to my experience in New York, I realize even more that it is important to help the homeless population. There are people in need no matter where you are in the world. In New York I participated in the midnight run which is almost the same as the panini run. I noticed how in New York it was much easier for me to communicate with the homeless because we both spoke English. I was able to carry on with conversations and realize how thankful the people were. In Rome I was not able to have conversations with the homeless due to a language barrier. In New York I was able to talk to the homeless population and understand how grateful the people were. In Rome I could definitely tell that the people were thankful, but it was hard to communicate. Also, in New York people wanted seconds and thirds of the sandwich bags we gave out. In Rome the homeless population only took one and they were sharing their food with each other. I found this very surprising because during the midnight run in New York people wanted as much food as they could get. It was nice seeing the community care for each other in Rome.

In Pope Francis’ Mercy reading a quote that stood out to me was, “To give bread to the hungry is necessary. But there is also a deeper hunger, a hunger for happiness” (Francis, page 40). This quote conveys how it is important to provide food to the hungry, but the true importance is how it makes the person feel. During both my volunteer experiences seeing a smile on people’s faces is what made the experience so great for me. It feels nice to know you are making someone’s day. Another quote from Pope Francis was, “Production of food is efficient, yet millions of persons continue to suffer and die from hunger”(Francis, page 38). Many people struggle due to homelessness. In Rome we went outside the Vatican and there were a lot of homeless people on the street. The homeless people laid out in the cold with an umbrella shielding their faces. What was surprising to me was how the people just kept to themselves and didn’t bother begging for food, or money. In New York the people begged and wanted seconds and thirds. Outside the Vatican in Rome the people were content with just getting one sandwich bag. It is upsetting how there is so much food in the world yet people are still faced with homelessness. Overall, this was a great experience for me and I really enjoyed helping the homeless in another country. I will never forget this experience.