If there is one thing that teaching has taught me, it’s that there is a lot more to people that we never ever see. In today’s world, I am thankful that despite any annoyances (orange juice on the mattress) caused by my children, I have them in life. I’m thankful that I have a job that keeps us fed, warm and allows us to see the doctor whenever we want. I can buy the things we need and many of the things we want. I didn’t feel panic when the Cuddler grew three sizes over night, I just went out and bought new clothes. For many people, it’s not that easy.
Over the next ten days, I will be immersed in a school-wide effort to fill the shelves of the local food pantries. When I say school-wide, I really mean community-wide. This annual event is HUGE! Last year’s total was over 500,000 lbs of food donated to the regional food pantry distributor. And that was just our half… this is a competition between two neighboring towns to see who can raise the most – the other town also raised over 500,000lbs! Why Oprah never covered this, I cannot imagine.
For me, this means endless fundraisers to supervisor, bags of food to donate and trying to figure out how much I can really spend and how much wiggle room I have (because I always over spend the budget!). It also means a lot fun! Every night, we’ll head out to a local restaurant for dinner served by our students as they “take over” for the night (all profits are donated), so no cooking! Woot! Next Tuesday, I’ll be immersed in desserts as the the club I advise hosts it’s annual Dessert Auction. Fudge has been promised! And I’ve already received some great things to auction off, plus I know I’ll be heading out tomorrow afternoon to gather more supplies to be able to have more… because I’m OCD like that. When you depend on teenagers, God love ‘em, not everything goes according to plan.
Next Saturday I’ll also be on stage. Singing. Not that I have a great singing voice, but I do pretty good with Adam Sandler songs… I’m debating a re-rendition of “Red-Hooded Sweatshirt” or the Elmo song. Or the Turkey song with adjusted lyrics… depends on what I find on my shopping spree. Ooooo! I just had a inspiration. I may have to get someone to video this one.
In end, all the stress, disruption and activity is a food a good cause. Because there is always more to people than what you see… and I know that many who are out gathering donations today will be getting them back in their weekly food bank trip.
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