Kids Lend a Big Hand

Yesterday I saw first hand how eager kids are to help others. We have many church groups that come out to the food bank to lend a hand, and yesterday Lakeridge Methodist Church paid us a visit. Far more fifth and sixth grade children showed up than was expected, and I was a little worried that the food bank would be unable to accomadate that many children! However, we managed to find a job for each child, and the kids were able to accomplish a lot during their short visit to the food bank.

The kids were split into three different groups. One group bagged egg puffs for our freezer boxes we distribute. The second group sorted and boxed hygene products. The last group marked and sorted canned foods to go into food boxes. I was amazed at how hard the kids worked and how much was accomplished. When they first arrived, they were all very excited about the jobs they would be doing and dove right into their tasks. They moved so fast and there were so many kids helping, they were only able to stay and help for a short time because we ran out of things for them to do! In the end, they were a huge help. They sorted and boxed the entire stock of hygene products that had been donated to us throughout the past three weeks. They also sorted two full bins of canned food, as well as bagged half a pallet of egg puffs.

At the end of their visit, the kids were all very excited about their accomplishment. I heard over and over again, "where does this food go to?" "who are we helping?" They wanted to have a sense of their purpose with their volunteer work. They all wanted to know exactly how many cans they had sorted, how many bags of egg puffs they had made, and how many hygene products they sorted. Kids are funny in the sense that they need a number to put with their efforts. They truely were a huge help to our food bank, and their hard work paid off!