After braving through Hurricane Sandy, I started back up my self-initiated project, by helping to feed the homeless at the Marie Atkins Center. As usual, I woke up early, and made my way to the homeless shelter with my dad and a few of his friends. Unlike usual, however, the crowds were a lot more rowdy than usual. Even with added muscle, the crowds swarmed around me and my dad, begging for one of the boxes of juice. We normally run out of boxes, so its not uncommon that people fight for one of the seats by where we start handing out the boxes, but having swarms of people surround my dad to the point where he refuses to give out any more boxes is something that has never happened before. I don't know whether this was as a result of the hurricane, or if it was as a result of there being more new people at the breakfast feeding, but it certainly shocked me.
Another thing that shocked me, but in a good way, was the fact that while working, I was no longer 'Big Jo', the brand of the juices we give out, or 'Mr. Chin', but 'Peter.' This realization that I've been working long enough for people to know my name, and call me by it was something that really took made me notice how much of a difference I've made in these people's lives. I'm no longer a brand of juice, or a typical Chinese man to them. I'm Peter, and that really made me feel like I've impacted these people more than I thought I have before.
-Peter
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