October Volunteering


 October hours: 2

Cumulative hours: 4

The activity I participated in was a food pantry stock up with lowernine.org in the Lower Ninth Ward. I think this activity is important, especially in today's political climate with peoples' SNAP benefits being at risk for the month of November. The activity was unloading and organizing materials and food boxes in the food pantry kitchen in preparation for giving out food tomorrow. I carried boxes in, organized, and put away different food items in their respective places in the kitchen. During the activity, I tried to talk to the other volunteers and those who run the operation in hopes to build bonds with them for when I volunteer with them again since it is an ongoing activity. 

I did not know what to expect with the activity, but I did not realize how heavy some of the boxes were so I made an inaccurate assumption that it would maybe be more "busy work" rather than heavy lifting. It proved I need to go to the gym or do some push-ups. I learned after the activity that lowernine.org was started after Hurricane Katrina as an organization to help renovate and rebuild people's homes in the Lower Ninth Ward, but progressed into a food pantry when the COVID-19 epidemic hit. It is really heartwarming to hear that the community shows up for each other when in need and that people who are able give what they can. 

In the past few weeks, we have learned about the autonomic nervous system and cardiovascular system and the different receptors, channels, and the different activities of the heart. This has deepened my understanding of multiple things and has given me the opportunity to tell whoever is next to me which receptor a specific acts on when watching a drug commercial. I think overall, I will need to do more research on the cardiovascular system and the antibiotics lectures from the inflammation module. I think I am happy with my performance on the module exams, but I need to study and focus more on Principles material because those module exams have been my weakest scores. 


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