Christmas Day Volunteering

As usual for the family, we do a volunteer project each Christmas Day.

This year after breakfast we headed out to volunteer and got our assignment.

Our job was to help sort donated books for an upcoming book sale - Bookstock - that raises money for charity, mainly for raising funds for education and literacy in the Detroit area.

To say this was a very enjoyable volunteering opportunity for a family of bibliophiles was an understatement.

Donated books in boxes and stacks by the ton needed to be sorted into various categories - history, sci-fi, religion, fiction, mysteries, romance, biography, classics, children's books, trade paperbacks, art, etc.

This occasionally led to lots of fun discussions as to where to place a certain book. The elderly ladies in charge declared, for example, that Tom Clancy belonged in Science Fiction and not fiction because he sold better that way. One did not argue if you knew what was good for you.

Some donated books were unfortunately in lousy shape and were unsaleable had to go in the recycling bin, others sorted turned out to be rare books that were set aside for valuation.

I helped sort books, bring in shipments of books to the sorting room from the storage rooms on carts, and then sort even more books.

Lots of neat books passed through my hands on the way to the sorted piles. Every possible subject was present among the donated books.

It was a very nice volunteering opportunity with a bunch of people who all worked hard to get thousands of books sorted and prepared for the sale in record time.

I'm definitely going to have to shop at the book sale.

Volunteering Today At Forgotten Harvest

For Christmas morning we had signed us to volunteer through our synagogue to deliver meals for Forgotten Harvest to bring Christmas meals to the less fortunate and shut ins in the area. We delivered 32 meals and Christmas gifts to people who couldn't get out themselves this year. So we delivered meals to the disabled and elderly in the area, and wished them all a Merry Christmas. It was a good way to spend Christmas morning.

Then we went to celebrate the Jewish holiday that always coincides with Christmas Day: Yom Dim Sum.

Yes, we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Tradition, ya know?

Sunday Volunteer Services

Today was the annual JFS Fall-Fix up and we again volunteered to take part and help spruce up elderly people's lawns and windows so they can continue living independently.

We were teamed up with some of the kids friends and their parents and off we went to get it done.

We raked leaves, washed the outside windows, and everyone put in a solid effort and got the job done and helped.

Unfortunately, with the fantastic weather we've been having, there's still lots of leaves yet to fall, but it was a solid effort with many bags of leaves removed and windows are clean.

Fall Fix-Up 2015

We had such a good time volunteering last year we did it again today. 400 volunteers headed out to help.

The annual Fall Fix-Up is where you volunteer and go out in the community and help elderly residents by raking their leaves and cleaning their exterior windows. This helps them keep up their homes and so stay in their homes even after they can't be expected to be out doing all of that.

This year we had two houses, and the same two other families from last year joined us as a volunteer crew to make it happen.

As always, Abby and Leah were excellent workers and very dedicated to getting the job done.

Many bags of leaves were raked, windows were cleaned until they sparkled, and a good time was had by all the volunteers.

Afterwards, the team went out to lunch together and it was a great way to spend a morning to help others.

Sunday Volunteering To E-Race Hunger

So this morning the family volunteered at the 5k Race/Family Fun Run To eRace Hunger to raise funds for a local food bank.

We ran the water station at the farthest end of the race course that was setup on the streets of Southfield, and handed out water to runners and directed them to make sure they stayed on the course.

We had motivational signs drawn up by the kids.

Sadly, my proposed sign - "Run Faster! The Zombies Are Catching Up!" - was vetoed.

So we worked the station, handing out water to runners and walkers passing by - some were very fast indeed and took the cups of water on the run without breaking their strides. Some took it as a fun family stroll and meandered by getting water on the way, which was more than fine too.

After all the racers and walkers had passed our point, we cleaned up the area and walked back to the starting point.

The race was a success and raised well over $7,000 for the food bank.

After the race, there was a family fun time going to various events setup on the Synagogue grounds and a nice picnic-type lunch.

A good time was had by all.

A Good Sunday Morning Of Service

Today was a social action day at our synagogue.

It consisted of volunteering for various activities to help the homeless in Detroit.

The activity our family did, along with quite a number of other families, as it was a big production, was to make 600 bagged lunches for some of the homeless shelters to be delivered tomorrow.

This consisted of packing each paper sack with a juice box, pudding and animal crackers, a spoon, a napkin, and a sandwich.  Sandwiches were made by teams in the kitchen and were either egg, tuna or cheese.

I started with unpacking the animal crackers and then unboxing and separating the pudding cups.

We then setup an assembly line. After all, the synagogue is in the Detroit area, so you must have an assembly line! Each sack then had each item put in at each station where each item was dropped in the bag, the bag checked to make sure everything was in it, and the sacks were then lined up awaiting sandwiches.  This was pretty fast and efficient.

Since we had no union to slow us down, we jumped around to various tasks as needed.  I variously loaded pudding and spoons into the bags, packed sandwiches into bags, labelled each bag as to the sandwich inside it, packed the bags into their shipping containers and labelled them, kept count of how many tuna sandwich bag packs were made, and then helped in the kitchen making egg sandwiches.

Other teams made blankets, packed toiletry/overnight bags for kids at homeless shelters and many other useful activities.

All the kids participating were awesome in how they helped out enthusiastically and without complaint.  A very good bunch of kids ranging from the small kindergartners to tall teenagers all working to get the tasks done.

There was lots of good fellowship and it was a worthwhile way to spend a Sunday morning and early afternoon.

Afterwards, we went with a few of the families we know out to lunch and had a nice time with them and had some great food and conversation to end the afternoon on a very positive note.

Some Family Volunteering - The Fall Fix-Up

Today the family gathered with many other volunteer families for the Jewish Family Services Fall Fix Up.

Groups of families go out into the community in teams and help the elderly and other shut-ins who are living alone by raking their leaves, washing their exterior windows and helping tidy up their yards.

So we went with two other families we knew to Oak Park and spent quite a few hours helping out.

We raked up many, many, bags worth of leaves and cleaned windows until they shined.

It was a good time and the kids worked hard and did some good work, and they were highly appreciated by those we helped.

Not a bad way to spend some time as a family on a pleasant Sunday.