Hello - and thank you for your interest and support for this year's Giving Tuesday.

I have been volunteering and working at the Warming House since the summer of 2021. It was through the Farm to Table program, where, throughout the summer, I lived on-campus and helped at the Warming House and Canticle Farms. With me were Warming House Manager Mike Waseda and Warming House Coordinator Adam Burlingham. The combination of service, new experiences, and new friendships made that summer the most impactful of my life thus far.

The Warming House is the most transformative experience any student can readily participate in through St. Bonaventure University. It is there I not only learned to prepare a variety of meals, something I had no prior experience in, but where I learned to prepare meals for thirty or more people. It is where I learned to coordinate and lead other volunteers in meal preparation and service. It is where I learned to maintain a dine-in and take out kitchen.

Most importantly though were the relationships I developed with the people I met. Volunteers and guests alike; they all have their unique stories to tell. To be exposed to such a range of ideas and emotions while sharing meals and providing for people; to learn their stories and troubles, their joys and ambitions, all while giving them a place where they can be themselves and relax – that is what is most powerful about the Warming House.