Alexandra and Roberta | Giving Back to the Community
We are giving out lunch bags to the homeless for the MAE organization for the homeless. We make the sandwiches with the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, the Cranston Community Women’s Club. And we made the sandwiches and put the bags together yesterday. And then some of us come out and we hand out the sandwiches and water.
Our organization, the Cranston Community Women’s Club, has different service projects. We volunteer in schools. We do different kinds of things. And this is just one of our projects. They (the MAE Organization) work for the homeless. They have a clothes drive. They give out toiletries.
So we’re volunteering for them. The organization is here (in Kennedy Plaza) every week. They’re here every Sunday.
They also have a food pantry. They have a clothes pantry. They work with the homeless to help them move into homes, so they’ll help supply what they need for their food. They have dishes and silverware and things that you need for a new home. But they also help people find shelters. They fill a need.
A lot of people, you know, they’re living on the edge. Some people have food stamps, but they have no place to live. You know, that kind of thing. Some people have some place to live, but they can’t afford to live.
Roberta: For me, in my family, all the women in my family always volunteered. I’m from New York, and they volunteered for the veterans. They volunteered and gave out what they had. So for me, it’s generational. So it’s part of my life, and it gives me a purpose in my life. And I believe that we have to have a balance. It’s part of my life and it gives me a purpose in my life and I believe that we have to have a balance. We can’t just take, take, take. We have to give back.
Alexandra: I never thought about volunteering until I met a gentleman who was temping where I was temping here in downtown Providence. He turned out to be a minister who had lost his ministry and so he was temping and we became friends and if a minister becomes your friend and he’s married and you’re a girl and he’s a guy, he’s going to introduce you to his wife really quick, which he did and she invited me to come to General Federation Women’s Club meeting, the Bristol County Women’s Club and I went and I have been doing good work to the GFWC ever since. I am now the state president.
