1800 bags of thankful.

Today, Eric and I volunteered with our company and some other companies at our local John 3:16, assembling and handing out over 1100 bags of food and turkeys. Today's total exceeded 1800 when you count the morning shift... Staff and volunteers did the same thing all day yesterday and will do it again and again into the night tonight and all day tomorrow... It's just astounding.... 

some of the bags premade for the night crew since they dont have any extra volunteers for the night and are working on a very small staff... 

 Part of the assembly line Eric and I both worked... I stood to the right of the woman bending over and filled bags with one can of dessert or fruit and two cans of green beans before passing on to her to fill with corn...

We moved FAST, friends... The food is stacked high on the table and you feel as though you'll never run out...and then you're scrambling before you know it, trying to grab another box of cans and keep the line going... I put the equivalent of 2200 cans of green beans in bags in just under 3 hours....

There are so many people in need.... And like Tracy said on her blog, the face of need is much different these days with the tough economy.... (Tracy volunteered in her community yesterday doing the same thing!) The face of need includes people like you and me, who might not have a good support system and lost their jobs or are just down on their luck...

I am thankful to live in a generous community that helped these families eat a good meal together on Thanksgiving through their donations. Trucks were pulling up and dropping stuff off AS we were making the bags! I mean seriously... We'd run out of corn and be stuck substituting something else we had a surplus of...which was often less than optimal...then 20 minutes later, we'd get boxes of corn in and people would cheer! :) A semi truck dropped off a load of turkeys while we were bagging food! It was just very moving... As fast as we could bag, Eric and some of the other folks were carrying bags out to the line to be given to people. There was probably a 5 minute window or less between making a bag and it leaving in someone's hands.. Amazing.

They still need a lot. We ran out of cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes for a long time... Green beans were running low when I left... I hope even more area citizens come forward with donations tomorrow for those families who will be in that line...

A few people brought their kids to help sort and bag food... What a great experience for those kids to have in my opinion. When I was younger, there were years we definitely didn't have a lot...I never FELT that way as a kid b/c my parents made sure of that...but looking back, I get it now. And it is a perspective I'll keep with me my whole life and I'm thankful for that. I think it's important to understand that people can be down on their luck and that a bag of food isn't a hand out, it's a hand up....and often a ray of hope...

I am thankful to have great family and friends (most of which I consider part of my family :) )....I'm thankful to not have to worry about where my next meal is coming from and to have a great support system in my life... I'm thankful for those things and so much more this holiday.... :)