Day of Caring

The United Way's Day of Caring started off hectic for me. We signed up for 4 projects and had to get several people to their destinations. Now this doesn't sound too hard, but our participants were people who are homeless (with the exception of my friend Ann and a W&M student.) So while everyone else was gathering tools and paint brushes, I rushed off with Will (W&M student) and Linda (a homeless friend of ours) and we went to the kickoff event for our care packages. Will and Linda were going over to the Respite Care Center and left with their goodies. I rushed back home to help get the rest of the helpers together and off to their destinations. I had planned on going with 3 of the guys to United Way to help set up for the celebration that night and my biggest responsibility was to get pizzas for lunch for the crew that afternoon.

Then my day turned into a nightmare!I went to get something out of our jeep and I yelled out to my husband "Where's the Jeep?" Within minutes we realized it had been stolen during the night! So now all our plans changed. Geoff took the 2 crews and dropped them off while another friend of ours took the guys to United Way. And I called the police. Other than spending almost my whole day with the police and making phone calls, I at least was able to provide the pizzas I promised.

While volunteers handle the food minstry that afternoon, I finally made it over to United Way for their dinner and celebration. That was very enjoyable. I had the opportunity to speak for a couple of minutes (thanks Zena) because I thought it was important to recognize the work and kindness our homeless friends provided that day. Many people think that the homeless do nothing to help the community, but at least 8 of our friends helped others in need on the Day of Caring.