Volunteering, Caleb's Concert, First Snowfall, and Loss of a Family Member

 

This morning (Halloween) in Megan's backyard

Yesterday, I spent time volunteering at a local non-profit thrift shop in Rockford. I will be committing 12-16 hours per week to the organization. RiverWorks has a food shelf open two days a week, a food truck part of the year (the warmer part), and RiverWorks Thrift Store.

As time goes on, I will find out more about how I can contribute my other skills to the organization. Yesterday, I started in the sorting area. I learned a lot from the folks volunteering! DD, Diane, and Teri each helped me out during the three and a half hours I sorted. I found the sorting area fascinating and was encouraged to learn that items we rejected, based on the guidelines given, went to another organization’s thrift store.

In addition to items moved on to the other non-profit thrift stores, certain items are re-donated to other organizations. A few examples I learned today:

*Bed sheets that do not look like new (no stains) are donated to a woman who makes lightweight quilts for people in Uganda.

*Blankets that are not suitable for the thrift store are donated to a woman who picks them up for the local animal shelters.

*Shirts that are rejected are donated to another person making quilts for another non-profit.

I am looking forward to learning more about the backend of this thrift store operation.

While I was waiting to speak with the store manager, Colleen, about volunteering, I needed to sit down. I found a spot in the furniture section at a dining room table. It had six chairs. As I sat and waited, I admired the set and the more I thought I might want to buy it. The table had a sticker of $150.00 on it. One of the six chairs had a sticker for $150.00. Joe and I thought the complete set was $300 and it included two table leaves. That seemed a great price! As my interview ended, I mentioned to Colleen that I wanted to buy the set. She pointed out that there was a matching sideboard for $100.00 nearby. With our senior discount and sales tax, we brought it home for $201.60.

Meeting and talking with Colleen was enjoyable. Her dedication to the thrift store comes through in her conversation. A little later I saw her giving another volunteer a tour and then she was working in one of the sorting areas herself.

The sorting room volunteers took a break about noon. They included me in their conversation. They shared that there is no set scheduling for volunteering which makes it attractive for them to come and go as their schedule permits. I told them about my blog and explained that I write it for family and friends to read as they wish. I told them I wanted to be very transparent that I write about what I do daily and the people I meet. I got permission to use their names or initials, whichever they chose.

DD mentioned above is also a Diane but goes by DD to keep the confusion down when Diane and DD work together. Numerous times T or DD would take items from my table to their temporary storage station. They answered all my questions – nicely!

One of the best parts of this volunteer work is that I could sit while doing it. Another good part was that I was not in charge. It was wonderful to just be in the moment and learn what I needed to do to get the clothes sorted. My biggest decision was which pile it was going to be sorted into!

Monday evening, we went with Jeremy and Megan to Caleb’s school choir concert, the District Choral Festival. There were performances by third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and high school choirs. Our granddaughter Charlotte, her mom, and their Aunt and Uncle were also there to cheer Caleb on. The school gymnasium was packed. Joe and I estimated there were over one thousand people. There were 494 chairs set up on the floor area. The singers sat on one wall of the bleachers. More parents and family members filled the bleachers behind us and there were people standing.

When Caleb’s class and the third graders sang, I cried. These classes did such an excellent job with their performance of We Are One (all the choirs together), Anybody Wanna Make a Jack-O-Lantern, and Forward. They ended the performance with all choirs singing Sisi Ni Moja. If you get a chance to look up the lyrics to Sisi Ni Moja they are beautiful.

At the end of the concert, one could buy a root beer float for $1.00. The students’ parents donated the supplies. Jeremy and Megan volunteered to work the root beer float table. Jeremy said he kept supplies stocked for the folks dishing up the floats. Megan was a cashier. Joe had volunteered to do clean up, so he helped to stack the 494 chairs on the floor and picked up programs left behind.

When we came out of the school at 8:39pm we were greeted by our first Minnesota snowfall. I have a photo of the snow and a shirt video clip. It was beautiful. As Joe drove us home the huge flakes were coming straight at us – it looked like something you would see in outer space (only shooting stars and small meteorites). Fortunately, our drive was only five minutes or so.

In sad news today, one of my cousins, the oldest of our generation, peacefully passed away Sunday night. My cousin Bob was 83 years old. His daughter reported that he lived his life the way he wanted – he was self-sufficient until the end. He will be missed by our families. I last saw Bob when he was in California and made a trip to visit my Uncle Owen. Owen, my cousin Eleanor, Eleanor’s husband Gene, Joe, and me had a pizza dinner one evening and Bob regaled us with stories and jokes. I appreciated that he came to see Owen. Bob and Owen were close in age as Bob’s mom was one of the older daughters and Owen was one of the younger children in the Hudkins clan. Bob and Owen at one time owned a plane together – they both loved flying. I am sure there is one heck of a party happening in heaven to greet Bob.

This morning we woke up to snow (the photo above). We will be heading out in a bit to do our weekly grocery shopping. Our car before Joe cleaned it off.

Photos of this mornings snow are courtesy of Megan.