To say that three students at Reading-Muhlenberg Career & Technology Center cooked breakfast for a group of veterans at the Paul R. Gordon Veteran Social Center in Reading doesn’t complete the picture.
It’s more on the mark to say they carefully mixed eggs with flour and milk to the right proportions and poured the batter onto a hot waffle iron, which did the rest. But, they also had to get the waffles out at the right moment.
They did have help from some adults, including their faculty adviser and volunteers with Veterans Making a Difference, the nonprofit organization that runs the drop-in center in the basement of Hope Rescue Mission.
Still, it was a noteworthy accomplishment for whom admittedly the nearest they’d come to making breakfast before Saturday was pouring milk in a bowl of cereal.
It was more about the experience than demonstrating culinary skills. The breakfast was part of a larger community service project that began in the beginning of the school year.
The students — Barbara Acevedo, Amelia Taveras, Mia Perez — organized the project for the school’s SkillsUSA community service club, in which they serve as officers. They selected this school year’s project to consist of supporting Veterans Making a Difference in various ways with their veterans-helping-veterans mission.
Since September the students and their advisers and staff at the center, along with community businesses, have been collecting canned food for the Veterans Making a Difference pantry, providing packed lunches for the vets in addition to cooking some Saturday breakfasts.
The ingredients for Saturday’s breakfast were collected or bought through donations.
There’s an educational component in that the students learn from engaging in conversations with the veterans of the community, said Lisa Hughes, the career center’s work-based-learning coordinator.
Dee Gonzalez, the career center’s SkillsUSA adviser, said the community service project engenders outstanding participation from the student and staff and generosity from the community by way of contributions.
The three students said what they enjoyed most about the experience was seeing the veterans filter in and talk while eating breakfast.
“It’s nice to see that what we chose (as a project) is helping others, and it’s nice to see them happy,” Perez said.
Some of the veterans who regularly come in for the Saturday breakfasts or lunches said they appreciate volunteers of any age giving their time to help veterans.
Jimmy Burgess, 71, said there are many veterans who are lonely, and some homeless, and the veterans center is a place they will discover by dropping in that they are not alone and there are others who want to support them.
The Reading Muhlenberg community service project continues for several more weeks.
A collection box outside the school at 2615 Warren Road off the Spring Valley Road exit of Route 12 will receive contributions of dish detergent, laundry detergent, men’s personal hygiene items such as double-blade razors and toothpaste.
It will culminate with the group submitting a 30-page booklet to SkillsUSA that documents the project for the awards contest.
Veterans Making a Difference co-founder Liz Graybill said the breakfasts are starting to return to normal turnout after being suspended for much of the pandemic.
Veterans Making a Difference is always looking for groups interested in preparing and serving breakfast or lunch. She can be contacted at 484-577-6898 or lizgraybill@yahoo.com.
Source: Berkshire mont
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