by Kirsten Schell '02

Every Monday, we shuffle from our practices, take a shower, and walk to dinner. But many residents of Greenfield don't have the opportunity to get a hot meal Monday Nights. Until now. Since April, Greenfield has had a Monday meal site thanks to Second Helpings, a new offering of Deerfield's Community Service Program and St. James Episcopal Church in Greenfield, which has offered the use of its kitchen and parish hall.

The Second Helpings Program was conceived by Community Service Coordinator Maggie Sweeney and Dining Hall Director Florrie Paige when they realized that there were lots of student groups interested in serving a community meal, and that a lot of food was going to waste at the Dining Hall. Instead of throwing away extra portions of entrees that it cannot serve again, the dining hall now puts that food into the freezer to be served at Second Helping meal.

Several different groups of people contribute to the serving of the meal each week. On Friday, a co-curricular community service group goes shopping for salad and dessert ingredients, which are stored in the church kitchen.

On Monday that same group picks up the entree from the school kitchen and takes it to the church in Greenfield, where they prepare the salad and set up the meal with the help of a few members of St. James church and a volunteer from Friends of the Homeless, an organization which has been serving soup and sandwiches to the homeless for years. At 5: 15 the co-curricular group leaves and a second Deerfield team arrives to serve the meal, eat with the guests, and clean up. So far this spring, athletic teams, advisee groups, and corridor groups have served the meal.

Nils Ahbel was the first faculty member to serve a Second Helping meal, and it made such a profound impression on him that he volunteered to do it every week until the end of the year. He was turned down because of the other groups who wanted to participate. "One of the things I've learned is a different set of eyes through which to see people on the street," he says. "I found the experience very uplifting...it made me want to go back." As advice to the students, he said, "If you think you are having a bad day, go and do the Second Helping Meal."