First, let me state unequivocally that I love my wife. We both do volunteer work, although I tend to gravitate towards civic organizations, while she spends more time with charities. So when she told me that she had volunteered both of us to work at one of her favorites, I was less than wildly enthused. For one thing, the work did not appeal to me, Sign in the volunteers, break out the cookies at the break, and make sure everyone signs out at the end of the evening. Booooooring.
So I went along, looking for the chance to make my break...
And I found it! I snuck into the food preparation group, and next thing you know, I'm in one of the storage areas learning how to put together food boxes for MEND's clients. It didn't take long to figure out how the system worked. So suddenly, I was assigned to monitor the assembly line. Turned out to be hard work, involving schleping huge boxes of canned goods, cereal, milk, ect. to keep the line moving. We assembled 125 boxes of food in a little over 2 hours. And it was fun. Not boring, fun!
MEND is a great organization. They provide services to the needy in the North San Fernando Valley (CA). Not just food, there was a large crew sorting toys for Christmas. They have a huge room set up with thousands of toys, all separated by age and sex, for chlidren who otherwise would not receive a gift. Parents pick out the toys, and are also given wrapping paper and ribbon.
I hope all of you who are capable will engage in some kind of volunteer work this holdiday season. It is a great feeling to know that you have helped someone you will never meet or know have a better holiday than they would otherwise.
I wish all of you in this community a very happy and joyful holiday, whatever you may observe.