Aren't these the most beautimous pictures?
Ah sure honey (my husband would say as he continued to read the newspaper)...what are they?
This has consumed all of my free time and then some for the past few weeks. Last night we had a pizza party to celebrate another great year (is it weird to skim the cheese and goodies off the pizza and throw the crust away, only to eat a cookie later? Hello FLOUR!!! wheat allergy girl) Okay anyway...
A few years ago when we were new to town, the church we attend had a volunteer Sunday where you could see all of the community service projects available. I love to volunteer! Too much sometimes! For a few years I quit everything except volunteering at the school and that was good for me too. While volunteering is good for the soul sometimes you need a break to focus on your family. Wow my focus is all over the place today.
Anyway...my husband signed us up to volunteer for Clothe-A-Kid. I had NO idea what it was or what I had gotten myself into. Notice I said myself...everything happens during the middle of the day so my husband couldn't volunteer.
Kids sign up in July to receive clothes for the first day of school. They also get to go to a fair where they pick up their clothes, backpacks, school supplies, pick out their own book, get their nails done/play basketball and have a little snack. These kids LOVE coming to the fair. We love seeing their happy faces. Shortly after I started the lady who was in charge of the program stepped down and two others stepped up for a few years. Now I am one of three people who lead this team of volunteers. It's a lot of work in a short amount of time. Throw in a week long vacation and it's a bit hectic!
This year we had a lady who was on bed rest, but wanted to help out. She mailed out letters to all of the beauty salons and barbers in town asking if they'd donate hair cuts. Over 280 kids received FREE haircuts! There were girls squealing because they got free hair cuts.
Hoodies are a big deal to kids, but hard to find in this town when our volunteers shop for the kids. I asked a lady who owns a shop downtown if they'd give us a discount when buying hoodies in bulk and she gave them to us at COST! They spent an entire day printing our school logos on the hoodies! They lost an entire day of revenue so they could donate to a great cause.
One of the best things I saw this year was the "teen shoppers". Kinder-5th grade kids have a volunteer that picks out their clothes. 6th through 12th grade meet us at Walmart, they shop and we pay for their clothes. There were two girls skipping throughout the store because they were so excited to pick out their own clothes.
There are a lot of people involved with this program. Area churches donate, individuals, businesses and many grants were received. We figure the cost is over $25,000 to do this.
One thing that we want to do is to provide shoes for these kids. You can't find much in the thrift stores in this area and I can't find used shoes at all. Hopefully one of these years we'll figure out how to provide those.
Volunteering - you think you are doing it to help others, little do you know how much it will impact your own life. If you have been volunteering for a while, maybe it's time to step down and let someone else have the opportunity to serve others. If you haven't been volunteering in a community service project, isn't it about time?
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