A handful of Becton’s Girls Helping Girls members donated their time, effort, and cooking skills for a good cause on Friday, April 17. The girls spent their morning volunteering at Meals With A Mission in Garfield.

GHG members assisted the volunteer team with tasks like chopping onions, shredding chicken, breaking up pepperoni, topping cupcakes with chocolate chips, preparing rice, dishing out food, and labeling containers. What seemed like simple jobs ultimately resulted in over 100 homemade dinners consisting of barbecue chicken, rice and onions, pepperoni pasta, and a dessert of chocolate and red velvet cupcakes.

“My favorite part of the trip was when we broke up into different little stations. I got to prepare all the pepperoni for the pasta, but watching other members chopping onions was entertaining because of all the tears,” GHG President Nycol Gomez said jokingly.

As much as the girls enjoyed physically cooking and baking the food, their favorite part of the trip was the feeling that they had made a difference in the lives of others.

“As much as I loved preparing my food, my favorite part was talking to the workers and seeing how dedicated they are to the organization and learning about how impactful it is,” said Senior Faith Banca.

This organization completely devotes its energy to preparing and delivering meals to various shelters in Northern New Jersey. Founded in 2010, Meals With A Mission has attracted more than 7,500 volunteers every year and distributed over 211,958 meals last year alone. Each meal prepared is home-style, nutritious, and made with extra care for individuals at homeless shelters and food pantries in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Union Counties.

“I’d love to volunteer there again and probably will over the summer. The people were so friendly, and I felt like I was making a difference. Even though I only played a small part, knowing I helped prepare meals for people who really needed them felt awesome,” said Faith.

“I believe that volunteering is extremely important and that everyone should experience it,” said Nycol. “We take things for granted and never really realize how bad things could be. Many people need our help and a few hours of volunteering or even small donations can make a huge improvement in their lives.”