| Chocolatl |
11-22-2012 07:12 AM |
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! I wanted to share this story with y'all because thinking about it really put me in the "counting my blessings" mood this morning.
Last year I participated in a charity event where my group of student volunteers went Christmas shopping for foster kids at a group home, with money donated by a local rotary club. As the sponsor, I prepared index cards that had the name, age, interests, and a budget for each foster child. My volunteers drew cards at random and then off we went to Walmart on a day after school. While my students were shopping, I bought gift wrap with our club funds and snacks with my own money. The volunteers were putting so much thought and effort into shopping that many surpassed their 30 minute time limit and I eventually had to announce over the PA system that they'd better be at the cash register in five minutes or so help them.
Once we got back to school, I put on some Christmas music and we set out to wrap everything we'd bought -- what would eventually be two carloads. Now to the first part that made me realize how lucky I am: a lot of my students had no idea how to wrap a gift because they'd never given one before. How was it possible that juniors and seniors in high school had never given gifts? Some never had the money; others didn't have anyone to give gifts to. As time passes, I find myself feeling luckier and luckier about the opportunity to give. As a kid, I used to pick my prized stuffed animals to give as gifts (only to reclaim them a few days later). While I didn't understand the mechanics of gift giving, I did understand the inherent joy of giving someone you love something that you think will make them happy.
The second part that made this event so memorable was the actual delivery of the gifts. We attended the Christmas party at the home: my volunteers made gingerbread men with the kids, we had lunch, and then Santa appeared to dole out the gifts his elves had brought earlier in the day. Those kids were so grateful for each and every item. The budget for each child had been $35 at most, so most of the gifts were very simple, usually a toy and a shirt for each one. While some kids might think a shoddily wrapped basketball was garbage, I saw these kids rocketing outside to play with the new treasure. One of the foster kids was a middle school aged girl with special needs. The student volunteer who had drawn her card had remembered she liked Justin Bieber, and got her a poster, a notebook, and the latest CD. The look on her face when she opened each gift was one I'll never forget -- it was as if all the birthdays and Christmases in the world had all come at once. But even more memorable? Seeing my student -- a scrappy Hispanic kid who didn't know how to wrap gifts -- lean over to his friends and whisper with tears in his eyes, "That's the girl I shopped for! She likes it!"
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