Finding Out Where You Can Do the Most to Help : Whether you submit an application first or just drop in, you’ll find your effort will be appreciated.

On a typical day--deadline at the end of the week, daughter needs advice on her college applications, grocery list as long as my arm--I called volunteer organizations with a list of questions: How would a typical Ventura County resident go about getting involved in volunteer work? What sort of work needs doing? Would previous skills or special training be required?

After a flurry of calls, I found that many organizations require an application and interview, some a training process.

But Pat McLean, of Project Understanding’s Family to Family, was happy to have me just show up. “Drop in any time,” she said, “just for an hour or two. We can always use the help.” The flexibility suited my schedule and it sounded like a good way to start.

It was a chilly December morning when I arrived at the Total Life Christian Center on Ventura Avenue, the facility used by Family to Family. On the street in front, a handful of men, women and children milled around, waiting for the doors to open at 11:30. There were loners from the street, single moms pushing strollers, families with kids in tow. All had come for a free meal, served three days a week to anyone in need--no questions asked.

Inside, volunteers relaxed over coffee, discussing the ups and downs of the real estate market, the challenge of juggling family life and career. “This is the calm before the storm,” one told me.

Family to Family relies on local church groups, business organizations and individuals for its volunteer staff; this day, the meal had been cooked and donated by a Century 21 office, and there were more volunteers than could fit in the tiny kitchen.

Still, when I said I’d come to help, I was given a hearty welcome and an assignment: to clear and wipe each place at the table as it became vacant, in preparation for the next diner.

When the doors opened promptly at 11:30, the handful waiting outside had grown to more than 200, who filled the dining room with activity and chatter. Children laughed and cried, and old friends greeted each other across the room. Everyone seemed eager to come in out of the cold and formed a long line, patiently waiting for volunteers to hand out paper plates filled with turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls--with pumpkin and apple pie for dessert.

I stood around awkwardly, jumping at every chance to wipe down a table; most of the diners considerately dropped their paper plates in the bins, leaving me with little to do. Then, an older woman started speaking to me in Spanish, which I understand in bits and pieces, but not well enough to make out what she was after. She patiently kept at it until I finally understood--her legs are filled with pain, she told me. Could someone bring her a plate so she doesn’t have to stand in line? I got a plate for her; in return, she hugged me.

More than enough food had been prepared, and seconds were given out. A man in his early 20s asked for a piece of tin foil to cover his plate. “I’d like to save this for later,” he said.

I contemplated his words for a moment, wondering where he sleeps, where he and the others eat on days when Family to Family does not serve.

Then the old disheartening question came back to haunt me: How much good do the few hours I’m putting in here do this young man, or others like him? Isn’t it as I suspected, that the world’s problems are simply too enormous for one person to solve?

A smiling volunteer whizzed past me with a plate. I had been watching her, astounded by her energy, enthusiasm and positive attitude. Like other long-term volunteers I’d met--at Ventura’s AIDS Care, at Ojai’s Little House Senior Center, at Food Share--she seemed anything but despairing.

As we began to clean up at 12:45, a woman approached me and introduced herself as Ginny. “What church group are you with?” she asked. I told her I had come here on my own. “Oh, that’s so sweet,” she said. “Well, this meal was delicious, and it means a lot to us. Thank you so much, and God bless you.”

And that’s when it hit me, with the force of the obvious: It may just be a drop in the bucket. But drop by drop, that bucket will eventually become full.