Volunteer Spirit

It has been awhile, I know. We've been so busy that I am pretty sure I could do a blog a day for the next month and still not get finished with telling all we have been doing. Maybe I will do that. I have to update about our new diet, how I finally figured out what F-stops are, I have some new group pictures AND a few of my girl wearing a bag on her head, we've had TWO blizzards, taken a small trip, and my house continues to look like we need an intervention from the show Hoarders. Well, OK, maybe just Clean House. So much foolishness!

But first of all, I have to tell more about our little Disney "Give a Day, Get a Day" adventure. We are thinking we may have an opportunity for a day at Disney in the future. Just a day though, and not even a full day. So, I was looking for ways to make the cost a little less painful and I came across the new program that Disney is running this year. Basically, you volunteer for a day and you get one free ticket into the park! Perfect for us, a great opportunity to do something for the community and save ourselves some money at the same time.

I clicked on the link that Disney provided, to search and sign up for our volunteer work. It was so easy!! If you are thinking of trying this, do it!! I discovered that the local food bank was listed AND we could do the work on our own time! So, I signed up the entire family and I went ahead and shopped myself silly. The kids all helped. We clipped coupons and got the most we could for our money - we more than covered the required 2 bags per family that was required and only spent about $48 - look at all we were able to buy!! (Gotta love coupons!)

When we bagged it all up, it came to 10 bags full!

We took an afternoon and dropped it off.

Everyone helped.

Even The big O-man pitched in!

We went inside and met with some staff members. They had us sign in on the Disney sign in sheet, and then took our items and weighed them. We got a record of our donation for tax purposes and about a week later, we got notification that our Disney ticket vouchers were available to print! What a great deal! Not only will we get a free day at Disney, I am pretty sure we will be donating on a regular basis to this food bank, now that we know where they are located and how everything works. Those Disney folks are smart cookies!

Of course, there was also a lesson to be learned. My sweet children brought the bags in, and the lovely ladies at the food bank started chatting with them about the importance of this particular charity. One lady asked them what they had for dinner the night before, and then gently reminded them that some children didn't HAVE dinner on a regular basis and that all this food was to help those children.

Thinking that this would be a wonderful teaching opportunity, when we got to the car, I asked my middle son, "So, what did you think when that woman told you that some children don't have enough to eat?" I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe something like, "I felt so sad for the poor hungry children." Or possibly, "I felt really good about donating food to the food bank." Nope. A brief moment of silence. "Well, what did you think when she said that?"

My dear, sweet son replied, "I thought, 'DUH, of course I know some kids don't have enough to eat. Why do you think we are dropping off food?' I think that lady was just trying to make us feel guilty."

He really knows how to turn on the charm, eh?