Another work day in the bag. This was number four of six. Note to self – never do six work days in two weeks again!
We had a beautiful day to gather and accomplish three tasks today. I think there were 11 that came but not sure I ever counted for sure. Most were people I had never met before which I find exciting.
Our first task was to prepare the trick or treat bags for the Detainees October treat. I guesstimated wrong and will need to pick up another big bag of chocolate candy to finish them off.
Our second task was to fix the hygiene kits. We had to remove the paper that said what was in them as we altered the contents. We took out the dental floss pick in the ladies and added five bandaids. For the men we had to remove the razor, shaving cream and dental floss pick and the paper and add five bandaids.
Our third task was to put duck tape stripes on the backpacks so the staff at the Center can easily find them when they are handing in the property storage room.
We accomplished all that in less than two hours. We got started a bit late but had some good conversation with lots of questions answered about the Detainees.
I trust everyone left feeling like they had helped with the Go Bag project and their time was well spent. It is nice to have those three projects completed.
I still haven’t put my house back to order yet. I took a chair nap as I was wiped out again. I will work on the house tonight and try to find hiding places for things and at least make a path. There are some women coming for the fifth work day tomorrow. I won’t be here but I need to make room for them to be able to come in and get the totes they are washing and taking care of. Right now I don’t think they can get to them.
I will need to leave around 11:30 tomorrow for KC. I am meeting Nicole at 1:15 for lunch and then going to the memorial service for a high school classmate at 3:00. I will come home after the service.
Tuesday is a rest day thank heavens. I will need to get organized for the fill the Go Bag day Wednesday afternoon. Haven’t figured out the logistics of that day in my head yet. I will need to lay things out and see how we are going to do that project. My biggest concern is where to put the filled backpacks. I will combine totes and create some empty ones but we have a lot of extra supplies and I won’t have as many empty totes as I would like. I can take totes out to the shed when we are done but can’t store the backpacks outside as the toiletry kits will freeze. I will get it figured out, just can’t quite imagine it in my heard yet how.
I put a post up last night asking for volunteers to sign up to receive boxes of goods and then wash and fold them and return them to me. I have lots of volunteers already – many more than I will need. That is a good thing so if we need to do 100 – 150 bags a month, I can rotate who receives boxes and no one will get burned out. I haven’t had time to respond to the individual responses yet and probably won’t tomorrow either. Maybe Tuesday I can find the energy to do that.
Three different people today gave me donations for Love in Action. We have raised over $1,000 this week with donations that have come in counting what I got today. That assures me we will have the funds to order what we need for the second go round if the need is there. That will make going on vacation more relaxing for me.
I have lots of things I need to take care of before I leave a week from Tuesday. Thankfully after Wednesday I don’t have anything on my calendar so can focus on getting ready to be gone for over two weeks. Still haven’t make a packing list – trusting I will remember the essentials.
If I can make it through Wednesday, I will be grateful. I am sore and tired tonight. I have lifted way too many totes this week and last night my back started yelling at me. I trust after Wednesday it will quiet back down once I get everything put where it needs to go. Luckily my travel suitcase is a carry on so I won’t be lifting much on vacation.
Might be an early bedtime tonight for me. I am tired! Unfortunately when I take a bath and lay down I seem to wake up and gather some energy. I can sleep in a bit tomorrow if needed since I don’t have to leave until 11:30 if I can find the energy to clear a path to the totes they need tomorrow.
Sitting with a full heart at how much energy complete strangers and some dear friends brought today. They worked with a smile on their face and cheerfully and willingly did whatever I needed done. It would have taken Kathy and I hours to accomplish all that. It was a great example of an on-line community coming together to serve the greater humanity. I am humbled.
Grateful for the willing hearts and hands of the women that came today, grateful three more projects got completed, and grateful I only have two more work days to do.