Through the proverbial grapevine we heard about a local woman who hosts an annual charity event in which she (with the help of other organizations) gives out tons of stuff to under-privileged kids. She’s been doing it for about five years now, and the event grows bigger each year. Kids can come to get– for free– backpacks, school supplies, toys, clothes, shoes, hygiene kits, towels, and a dozen other little things some of them have never had. Perhaps most importantly, they get beds: actual mattresses, complete with pillows and sheets and blankets.
It’s hard to imagine being a kid who’s never slept in a bed. Maybe they’re on a couch, but more likely it’s a sleeping bag on the floor in a cramped little house. It seems like one of those things that happens far more than I’d like to acknowledge, even right here in our little desert community.
Anyway, Pepper contacted her and asked how we could help. She said she’d procured all the “stuff” and just needed volunteers to help unload it, set it up, and then chaperone the kids as they went around choosing things. We rounded up the young missionaries and went to work.
The event was hosted at the county fairgrounds, which had a huge indoor space (it’s even air-conditioned!). There were dozens of tables to be set up.
And a hundred mattresses and box springs to unload from a moving truck.
There were boxes of donated goods to be opened and distributed to “stations” around the perimeter. We labeled trash bags with the names of the kids so they’d have a way to store their items. We spent a few hours getting everything ready. Here’s our setup crew:
The next day was the big event. For four hours, over a hundred kids from a fifty-mile radius came and received things they’d never had before. Here’s a picture showing the beds with pillows and bags of stuff. The kids could “claim” a bed with their things so they didn’t have to carry everything all day.
The police officer above is actually a volunteer helping with the event. In addition to us and a dozen missionaries, there were quite a few police and Border Patrol officers assisting. Each of the volunteers walked around with one to three kids (siblings) to guide them through all the stations. Interestingly, parents weren’t allowed: they dropped off their children and came back four hours later. The woman managing the event said that ensured that the kids were able to choose items they wanted, not what their parents told them to choose. Again, for many of them it would be a new experience. Pepper had a girl named Jazlene, and they worked on painting a birdhouse together.
There were games to play as well. Here’s Elder DeMordaunt playing Perfection with a little boy he was chaperoning.
Elder Legg spent some time just listening to stories from the boy he was helping.
I had fun with Kaida and Zaniel.
As the day wound down, parents returned to pick up their kids and all their new things. One outlying community had brought a gaggle of kids (including the boys I was with) on a school bus. They had a separate truck and trailer to haul the beds back with them. That meant we had to load dozens of them onto the truck. Elder Grush put us all to shame by hauling entire beds.
Here’s our hard-working crew for the day (minus two missionaries who had to leave early for an appointment).
It’s great to see these fine men and women serving in the community. It’s even greater to see the impact of one woman and her vision to help local children. We were proud to play a small part in it today.