There’s something special about doing volunteer work. Whenever I have a chance to do something for my community, I wonder why I don’t do this more often!
Last night, I had the opportunity to work with a fantastic organization close to home that helps thousands of people in the greater Denver area. Every summer, they launch a massive school supplies drive to support all the families who cannot afford to get their kids the school supplies they need for fall classes.
I remember that I LOVED to go school supply shopping when I was young. My mom would take my brother and I to the store and buy an embarrassing amount of filler paper. Seriously, K-Mart would price the 200 sheets at like 10 cents each and we would fill a shopping cart.
I also remember I’d always get a Five-Star Notebook, lots of pens, and a new TRAPPER KEEPER. It made me feel excited for school to start and proud when I walked in the door with my new gear.
Pretty sure I had this EXACT Trapper Keeper in about 2nd grade. (Source)
Considering my love for paper products and all things related to school as a child, this cause just tugs at my heart strings.
Before we got started on the project tonight, the director of the Jeffco Action Center spoke to us about how the supplies are used. I was shocked at the statistics he shared about how many children in the greater Denver area attend school by day, but are homeless at night. Unbelievable.
Thank goodness there are programs out there like JeffCo Action to help them during this important time of year. I can’t even imagine what it’s like for a parent to have to make the decision between dinner and school supplies.
Tonight, our job was to pack up a bag of supplies for 7th and 8th grade students that would be receiving donations
Receiving instructions
Two jobs were available. Sorting donations and assembling the gifts. I opted for the assembly area, where I could help people fill the bags. Rather than walking through the line filling the bags (since I had heels on), I somehow decided to be the filler paper girl. My job was to put 4 packs of filler paper in each person’s bag that came by me.
My handiwork. Check out those stacks… impressive, eh?
I chose my station because it was situated next to my friend Alecia (who is probably reading this right now!) and my friend LaDawn who works closely with the Action Center. I thought it would be a great opportunity to chat it up. Well, little did I know that I’d be super busy working up a sweat, with little time to talk!
Alecia manned the colorful Composition Books. I didn’t know people really used those??
I lugged just under 1600 packets of paper last night – – woo hoo! I ended up losing my cardigan and constantly wiping my brow. The good news is that this philanthropic night easily required that I exert more energy than the Candlelight Yoga class I was missing. And, I have to believe that it was working those arm muscles I’m always looking to improve!
My friend Deb, on the other hand, was busy FILLING bags.
1600 packs of paper is insane! Thank goodness there were some nice STRONG teenagers on hand to help me pick up the heaviest of the boxes of paper.
Deb and her team packed up more than 400 bags full of school supplies for the students in need. At the end of the night, we couldn’t resist taking a pic in front of some of the loot. What a great night, and how great to know that you’re helping people who need it!
At the end of the night, here we are sweaty after all our packing. The white bags behind us are full of supplies!
If you happen to be local to Colorado or just interested in donating what you can to this great cause, click here for details.