It was a heartwarming experience to volunteer with Israel’s National Food Bank. There I learned how essential and effective community service truly is. The exhilaration of harvesting kohlrabi in the 100-degree weather around my peers brought joy to my heart. What we were doing would help feed families in need from the 1500 pounds of kohlrabi we harvested and distributed.

I remember sweat in my eyes and being on the verge of stopping when familiar hands reached out to help. My peers naturally set into a line where people would pull the vegetable from the ground, others would pull off the root, and the rest would dump them into the buckets. This teamwork became energy-conserving and time effective as not one person was doing all the work.