Yesterday, we were finally able to put our hands to work and not just our money. We've donated several items like food and cleaning supplies, which is always good to do, but we wanted to get in there and take some action. The flooded homes are in such a state that they really aren't letting people down there that don't live there, so we headed over to the American Legion to help pack lunch sacks. Each day they not only provide meals (lunch and supper), but they are packing up to 800 lunch sacks a day and taking them down the flood zone to pass out. Walmart is donating tons of food every day for them to do this and they let us join in and help.
I'll be honest and say I wasn't sure how much my kids would participate. They've been back and forth about whether or not they wanted to help, but they jumped right in and got to work! They created an assembly line that had apples/fresh fruit, chips, granola bars, cookies, water bottles, etc... (later we added sandwiches) and tied the bags up loosely and set them on the floor, before going back to the head of the line and starting over again. We all did this for a while, then Madie pulled away and starting working on another area.
They needed someone to put the bags we were filling into boxes and counting them, so they could write down how much each box had. She took this job over all by herself and was a rock star! When we were leaving, they said, "Wait! We can't lose our counter!". ;-) Noah took some time to help carry the heavy boxes filled with lunches and put them in the spot they needed to be. Noah's the first to tell you that he can be lazy at times and not want to help, but boy did he get in there and work hard! I was so proud of him!
At some point, we ran out of cookies/desserts, so I made a quick run next door to our little market and bought a bunch and brought them back. Everyone decided to get lunch while I was gone. Our first job that morning was putting cookies and brownies and stuff into little baggies for the lunch sacks. Made the kids hungry! So, waiting another 2 hours after packing cookies to eat wasn't easy for them, but they did it. :-) The volunteers are allowed to eat what they have set out for people to come and eat, so the kids loaded up on that. The boxes in front of the kids are the boxes that Madie counted and packed. I think, in all, we packed about 500 lunch sacks, maybe more. We had to go back through all of them and add a sandwich, which we did for a little while, but the kids were pretty tired by then. We had been there for 3 busy hours and only had a couple hours before Madie had to leave for Scholastic Bowl. So, we said our goodbyes. The best part of watching my kids help others and serve is that they loved it! They loved it so much they decided to pass on going to the free movie for the MES students and pack more lunches instead! So, we're headed there is a couple hours to hopefully work as hard as we did yesterday. They might not be in school, but they are getting an education all the same. Only instead of studying math and reading, they are learning about the gift of service and volunteerism. Real life learning. :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment