Item #40 – Volunteer for a Good Cause

40 Things for 40 Years in 40 Weeks: Item #40 (Things I Really Enjoy) – Volunteer for a Good Cause

When I embarked on this project, I knew that I wanted to do something along the way not just for myself or for my family but find a way to give back to my community. So this easily became #40 on my #40for40in40 list – Volunteer for a Good Cause.

I inquired about a few new causes this year but ran into dead ends. I was frustrated at first but persisted. Last Christmas, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a volunteer opportunity for the Issaquah Food and Clothing Bank during the holidays – the Holiday Gift Barn. This is a great cause where families and corporations donate gifts, gift cards and money and then the Food Bank evenly distributes them to families in need. Parents apply and get to “shop” for gifts for their children before Christmas. Given how fortunate both of our families are, the Wook (my favorite neighbor and friend) and I both agreed that volunteering at the Gift Barn to see those that are less fortunate in our area provide Christmas gifts to their children would be a worthy and rewarding cause. When I wasn’t successful in my other volunteer inquiries, I decided that we had to return to the Holiday Gift Barn for a second year. As soon as the volunteer window opened – I signed us up!

Decked out in our spirited Christmas best, the Wook and I returned to the gift card table where we had worked last year and although we brought the same enthusiasm to the cause that we did in 2016 - it was sad to see that there were less gift donations, significantly less gift cards donated and fewer presents given to each child. We realized quickly that the need was greater but fewer donations were made. We finished our shift a bit defeated but decided that we would attend the volunteer orientation for the Food and Clothing Bank and start volunteering there on a regular basis. (We are signed up to attend orientation tomorrow!)

In addition to the Holiday Gift Barn event, the boys and I held our second annual holiday canned food drive in our neighborhood. We sent an email to all of our neighbors with a set pick up date and time. Larry made a flyer with illustrations and distributed it to every house. We sent out a reminder and challenged the neighborhood to beat our donation total of 105 items from last year. It was slow going at first but after walking the neighborhood on pick up day and going to Costco to purchase some additional items we collected 139 items (some of them were Costco multi packs!) weighing in at 171 pounds!!!! The boys were so proud and we were proud of them!

We also found out that although there are few volunteer opportunities for young kids, they are able to attend a “packing party” at one of our local markets that packs food up for the local food banks once a month with no minimum age requirement. We attempted to help at one this month but the event was cancelled, so myself, my husband, the boys and the Wook’s family will all be attending the next one in January!

We have worked hard to create a great life for our kids. I am always aware how fortunate I am but this holiday season has made that even more apparent especially when I see the people in my own backyard struggling to make ends meet. My parents were hard workers too but had hard times like that when we were kids. Somehow Christmas always magically happened no matter what. I hope that my little contribution helped someone else have a better Christmas, a meal on their table and put a smile on a child’s face.

And so that completes #40 on my list. 20 items checked off the list and 20 to go! Stay tuned for more… #40for40in40