Yesterday I spent my day volunteering at the Mission of Hope.  We had to assemble food baskets for 225+ people.  The baskets included rolls, corn, beans, apples, oranges, potatoes, candy, pie, rolls, ham, and milk.  Each of these baskets were tied with a ribbon and a card from the Mission and from Kurt and Brenda Warner.  Yes, THAT Kurt Warner.  His foundation donated $5000 and 58 Columbia coats toward this Christmas giveaway.  Kurt is from Cedar Rapids and his mom, Sue, was there helping out all day as well.

After getting their basket, the patron was able to pick out 1 coat, hats and gloves, and a toy for each child in their family.  That was where I spent my time.  I helped fathers and mothers choose toys for their children, many times choosing the Zhu Zhu pets that were generously donated by the Zhu Zhu Pets 10,000 Smiles Campaign that I wrote about in this post

It was such a blessing to see the many, many volunteers giving up there day (many I’m sure could have been shopping or baking) and instead gave their day to see God’s work happen right in front of our eyes.  Everyone was so completely thankful for the gifts of food and clothing and toys.  Many of them mentioned how their child or themselves didn’t have a winter coat and now would be able to keep warm.  For some, this was the only opportunity to get a gift for their child.  It was just an awesome reminder of how much I am blessed and I am so glad to be able to share my blessings with others.

Here are some photos from my day.  I had such a fun day and there were many, many laughs.  Thanks to Julie, Tina, Kimmie, Tom, Jeanie, Garret, and LuEllyn for making my day so much fun.

 Some of the donated toys to give away
 More toys and the coats from the Warners
 The food baskets
 Me and my sis-in-law, Julie – One of the Supervisors at Mission of Hope
 The art of wrapping the food and tying it with a ribbon…not as easy as it looks! 🙂
 Garret watching over the toys
 More food baskets
 Ready for the patrons to come in
Coats and clothing to giveaway. 
 Even though it looks like a lot, we did run out before everyone came through.  
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1 Comment

  1. The Waughs on December 27, 2010 at 4:41 pm

    What a great thing to do!

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