You never know how even the smallest act can positively affect someone else's life

 (from an online AMH 2020 student)

For my service project that I had to complete for my AMH2020 class this summer semester I chose to serve a meal at Veterans Village.

I chose this project because veterans of the United States military hold a special place in my heart. My grandfather is a 35 year Veteran of the Florida National Guard, and growing up hearing his stories about his friends and some of my ancestors who fought and were either maimed or killed in wars such as Vietnam, Korea, and World War II has given me great pride to be a citizen of the United States, the greatest country in the world. As I have read and studied the history of this nation I have gained an even deeper appreciation of what our military and the men and women who serve and have served in it do for our country. The only reason we enjoy the luxuries and freedoms that we have in our world today is solely because of the sacrifices these brave men and women who have represented our nation magnificently since 1776. After hearing that I could complete my service project by helping feed veterans I decided that this was definitely the route I wanted to take. I immediately enlisted the help of my grandmother, because my culinary skills are at best sub-par. My grandmother suggested that we make a desert, and I decided on her home made family recipe banana pudding. She agreed to help me prepare it and off I went to feed the veterans.

At Veterans Village I encountered many nice and friendly people, some of whom were my class mates who I had not previously had the opportunity to meet due to the class being web based. I shook hands with and greeted many of the veterans in attendance at the dinner. All of these veterans personally thanked my classmates and I for taking the time to prepare the food for them. I have never encountered such grateful individuals, over a simple plate of food. It was saddening to see such brave men who had represented our country dutifully to be in such difficult places in life. It felt good to be able to give something back to these men and women. As I was leaving I thanked another veteran in attendance for his service and he stopped me and said that by helping provide this meal I had showed my gratitude. His words really stuck with me about how appreciative all these people were for a simple meal. My advice to someone who is thinking of doing a service project similar to this is that you never know how even the smallest act can positively affect someone else's life.