By Lateefah Young, CU Denver Study Abroad Peer Advisor

On January 8, 2013, staff at the Office of International Affairs (OIA) teamed up with Food Bank of the Rockies, volunteering their time to make food boxes for senior citizens. It was a chance for us to give back to the community and to get to know our colleagues better.

Senior citizens receive a box of food, which consists of cereal, apple juice, canned fruits and vegetables, soup, and special milk. Each OIA team member was assigned the duty of either storing specified food items in boxes or packaging boxes for the food bank staff members to ship out.  After an hour and a half of packing, taping, heavy lifting and storing, we felt highly productive. Then the food bank supervisor notified the group that the company creates ten-thousand food boxes a month—so we all knew that it was time to step up our efforts.

The clock was ticking, with only one hour left. Laugher and friendly banter aided us as we poured on more energy and enthusiasm; we all united to pick up the pace. The result was a successful team effort—a total of 325 food boxes ready for Denver’s senior citizens.

As we cleaned up and gathered everyone for a group photo, each of us couldn’t stop smiling. We thought about all the people we would feed and about the fun and camaraderie we had enjoyed. At the end of the day, giving back to the community only takes a fantastic group of workers and a desire to lend a helping hand.

Special thanks to Julie Wilbers, Rachel Donelson, Sara Rathbun, Jessica Greenbaum, Gregory Hoefer, Wiejia Wu, Clayton Harmon, and Tamara Echter; Office of International Affairs, University of Colorado Denver