The International and Multicultural Student Service Office, or IMSSO, helped at Main Street Mission on Friday.

Main Street Mission is an organization whose mission is to help people who are unable to supply for all of their own basic needs.

“We helped in the food pantry.  We helped sort out food that arrived into six different categories like dry foods, cereals, and breakfast foods,” said Danny Eshcol, the international student advisor.

“The students also inspected for spoiled food.  I told them, 'If you don't want to eat it, don't expect others to eat it,'” Eshcol said.

“I think they underestimated how much we would get done.  They gave us six carts to sort the food.  We were done with those in five minutes,” he said.

The event not only helped the needy, but also the international student volunteers.

“The students noticed that there are people with needs.  They were exposed to people who are under-privileged or going through a hard time.”

Main Street Mission doesn't only give out packaged food.

“The building has an area that's like a thrift store, but everything is free.  They serve free lunches every day and give out boxed lunches for people to take back home to their families. Everything is sponsored by donors, community churches, and the local businesses,” Eshcol said.

The Main Street Mission volunteer event was the last one for this semester in a series called IMSSO Gives Back.

Past IMSSO Gives Back include donating cameras to Arkansas Children's Hospital, visiting the nursing home, and helping at the animal shelter.

“I've never had a hard time getting volunteers.  When we went to the nursing home, we filled up one 29-seater van, one 12-seater, and a couple of personal vehicles,” Eshcol said.

IMSSO Gives Back will start again in the fall.