“Oh my god! What did I get myself into”. That was my first reaction when I saw Andre House for the first time. On the outside of the building it was dirty and it smelled like a trash can. I saw many homeless people crowding around the place. I knew then that it was close to dinner time. I thought to myself, “Wow! There is a bunch of people here.” As I entered the kitchen I was greeted by several kinds of faces. Many of the faces seemed familiar. We were greeted by the person in charge and he ordered us to wash our hands and get cooking gloves. He told us to help chop up the fruit for the salad and the veggies for the food. We came on burrito night so we chopped up the tomatoes, jalapenos, and onions for the burrito.

When we were assigned our jobs for the rest of the night, I was assigned to serve water to the people along with another girl my age named Dani. I was glad that I got to work with another girl who has the same name as me. Dani and I got along really well, she was friendly and nice. We talked as we passed each other. I also met another girl who I thought was my age, but she was really 20 years old. I was shocked because she looked, acted, and sounded my age. She was surprised when I told her that, but she said that it was her height that made her look young.

While serving water to the people, I met some men who kept laughing at me. I didn’t know why they were laughing, but soon enough I was laughing along with them. In fact, I was laughing while pouring them water. I accidently spilled water on one of their hats. My face was burning up. I said sorry quickly and left to another table. They weren’t mad, though, they just started laughing at me even more. All the people that I served were polite and thankful for having food to eat. That moment sad for the people there because so many people had no homes and slept on the streets. I felt ashamed because I sometimes take things for granted. I realized that I am thankful that I have a roof over my head and food to eat.

I always remember that day because of the incident. I was glad that I made a difference in many people’s lives. I will keep going to Andre House because I like to help the people in need.