Volunteering

Rather than exchange Christmas gifts this year, Allison, Tram, Lydia and I decided to volunteer during the holidays instead. For each person's gift we replaced, we would spend a day volunteering together.

It's not to say that I don't enjoy giving or receiving gifts! I most certainly do - especially when you've found the perfect gift and you know it's exactly what they want and the glee on their face when they open it makes it worth all the while. But more often than not, it's usually them pretending to like it and running out of words to express how much they "love" it. Don't deny it, you've been there! In fact, you were the one scrambling to say how much you loved that overwhelmingly potent Bath & Body Works loofah set!

So rather than spend hours shopping alone and stressing over each other's Christmas gifts (which we would most likely not need or want), we figured we'd rather spend that quality time together giving back to our community.

We wanted to deliver Meals on Wheels, but with such late notice, we could not pass the background checks required, so instead, we volunteered for six hours today in the kitchen at Loaves & Fishes (the people who do Meals on Wheels). Even though I organized the day (I don't know if I can speak for the girls), I was looking forward to it just as much as I was dreading it. I think we were all excited to do something good for the holidays, but it was the earliest any of us had woken up in...

:: crickets chirping ::




... none of us even remember the last time we woke up that early!!!

But the second we stepped our feet into the center, I knew it was going to be a good day. We donned on hair nets, aprons and rubber gloves and went to town. We prepared morning snacks, whisked gravy, counted ravioli, messed up, spilled sauce, scooped veggies, made salads, packed lunches, served lunches, attempted to wash dishes, (lovingly) dissed on each other, mopped, swept, laughed, mingled with the elderly folks who came to the center, got hit on, blamed each other and had one of the best times together in recent memory! It helped that everyone there welcomed us with open arms, especially the staff (David, Pam, Shawna, Nita, Bernard) although a few folks thought we were ex-convicts on probation :) Why else would us girls volunteer to work in a kitchen on a Monday, right? :)

The last time I volunteered was six to 10 years ago and that was only because I had to do it for a college project or it was a required initiative at work. Besides participating in March of Dimes, rarely did I make the time to volunteer on my own account. I'm not sure why... because the three of us practically skipped out of there in super high spirits after we were done. We never thought we'd have so much fun working in a kitchen for free! It was the most rewarding day I've had all year.