The Physicality of Giving

I volunteered at Caritas of Austin’s Community Kitchen yesterday morning. They are a local nonprofit that works to end homelessness in the Austin area through education, job placement, and food services. My four-hour shift was spent preparing the dining room, putting out donated cupcakes on trays, and then pouring milk for the 200+ guests that came through during the lunch service. After the guests left, we put the leftovers away, swept, mopped, and took off our aprons.

This is the second time I volunteered with Caritas and it was not complicated work; I can pour cups of milk with the best of them. Yet I reveled in the physical act of working. Here is something I can do with my body: carry the mats, wipe the table, hold the gallons of milk without spilling.

I was reminded of how I felt on the service trips I took to El Salvador back in high school. We built houses out of cinder block under the 100-degree sun. We pounded the dirt flat and dug trenches and felt our work gloves slick up with sweat. At the end of the day we were exhausted. And then we got up and did it again. I loved it. We were doing so little it seemed, but I felt like I was doing it. I was there, in the moment, giving everything my body could give.

There is a tangibility to that work that I don’t always feel in my job. I don’t go home each night and see the results of my effort that day. Projects take time. Some die out. A lot of time is spent on the nuances of conversation and coaching that it will be hard to ever measure my impact. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do, but I’m grateful for the opportunity to take a morning off work to give and see the results of my time.

Most of my time giving back is done through work. I’m on our Give Back committee and a natural role in my position as HR is to coordinate many of our Give Back efforts. We do Hands on Housing or support Foster Angels of Central Texas or volunteer at a women’s shelter. And though I try to be generous in my personal donations, I’m missing a place to give my time on my own. I don’t have a regular volunteer schedule and it’s something I’d like to commit to finding this year: an organization I believe in where I can regularly give back. I don’t know what that looks like yet and my schedule this year already feels overfull with my renewed commitment to writing, exercise, and work. But what does it mean if I can’t make time for this?

With Love,
Natalie