Question about Non-Clinical Volunteering

[mucophagy]

If my non-clinical volunteering involves prepping food for the disadvantaged, and less direct contact with the disadvantaged, would that be looked down upon? (Soup kitchen)

More of my time would be put towards preparing the food than being actually in contact with the target population. (However, I am in contact with the target population when distributing food)

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[chilly_md]

No soup kitchen is a great activity. You can always suggest ways to interact more with those you are serving, such as having you and other volunteers gain feedback about how well the soup kitchen is meeting their needs.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

If my non-clinical volunteering involves prepping food for the disadvantaged, and less direct contact with the disadvantaged, would that be looked down upon? (Soup kitchen)

More of my time would be put towards preparing the food than being actually in contact with the target population. (However, I am in contact with the target population when distributing food)

You're fine. Also, I presume you are not by yourself in preparing food. You'd be surprised who is working beside you.

 

[Goro]

If my non-clinical volunteering involves prepping food for the disadvantaged, and less direct contact with the disadvantaged, would that be looked down upon? (Soup kitchen)

More of my time would be put towards preparing the food than being actually in contact with the target population. (However, I am in contact with the target population when distributing food)

You're fine. Very fine.!

 

[LizzyM]

You can write the description as you wish. If you want to highlight the face-to-face contact with those you've fed, go for it. No one will ask you how many hours you did x vs y. People spend a lot of time putting blankets in the warmer and stocking shelves but they'll write about their emergency department volunteerism highlighting the person with traumatic injuries with whom they had a 15 second interaction.

 

[SahilMehtaMD]

This is a great activity! Medical school admission committees only care about your extracurricular activity breadth to an extent. What they truly care about is the depth of the experience. Dedicating yourself to being passionate about three to five experiences is significantly more valuable than having a laundry list of things that you only have a surface layer of involvement with. It is possible to be a well-rounded applicant without “having your hands in everything.”

 

[mucophagy]

Great, thank you all for your wisdom! This helps a lot with alleviating some of my concerns.