Spreading Holiday Cheer

Today was a great day!  Grace, Owen and I headed out in the morning to the Salvation Army.  They were gearing up for Santa's Workshop which is a new event they hosted this year.  Santa's workshop was set up for kids of all income levels to come to the center and shop amongst donated gently used and new items for the loved ones on their list.  We arrived a little blind and not sure what to expect.  I had heard about the event through a friend of mine that was volunteering.  I asked her the night before if they needed more volunteers and she told me to just come a little early and make sure we volunteered our assistance.  I also excited for Grace and Owen to be able to shop because I thought it was such a cool concept.  We arrived about 9:45 with the intent to have the kids shop and volunteer our services afterwards.
When we arrived the kids were given a list to fill out with a number at the top.  When their number was called they were taken by a volunteer who guided them through the shopping area.  After the kids were settled at the craft tables in the waiting area I went to see if I could be of help.  Right away they set me up with a child to shop with.  Mikayla was 7 and shopping for more than a dozen people on her list.  With this year being the first workshop and the S.A. not knowing how their turnout was going to be they didn't have a limit set on how many people the kids could shop for.  Mikayla and I made our way into the gym where there were more than a dozen tables laid out with gifts.  Everything was sectioned off in different categories, bath & body, purses, jewelry, toys, books, movies, men's gifts, home goods, etc.  There was everything from brand new toys still in the box such as the Maro Kart Kinex Car Grace picked out for Owen to barely used Coach purses!!  Rumor has it the Coach purses came from Donna Hendrickson widow of the former ABC Supply President (the billionaires in town).  Anyway, there were some great items!!  Mikayla and I started down her list.  She was a foster child and on the list were her current foster parents, previous foster parents, brother and 4 other foster brother and sisters plus a couple of different sets of Grandparents, etc.
This will probably be one child that will be in the back of my mind forever.  We had such a great time shopping and she was so excited!  She was a cute, sweet girl with a tinge of body odor emitting from her.  When noticing this I had such mixed feelings of sadness and joy at the same time.  Joy of being able to help her have gifts to give.  Sad, knowing that she was a foster child obviously passed through the system.  I can't even begin to grasp what her life may be like.
I told Grace about her later that day and tried to put it in perspective for her.  I had told her Mikayla was a foster child and explained what that meant.  It came at a convenient time.  The day prior Grace came to me and said she has a school friend, ironically named Mykayla, that confided in her that she may be taken from her parents.  Grace had asked where her friend would go and seemed concerned about it all.  This provided an opportunity for me to give a better example as to what a foster child is and how it works avoiding the scary details.
My experience with Mikayla, 4 year old Jordyn who had the cutest little santa purse and Casey, 10 who had some speech/learning disabilities really touched me.  I will always remember the look on the parents faces seeing their children come back to them with garbage bags full of wrapped gifts.  All of them were SO appreciative and so thrilled thanking me and wishing us a Merry Christmas, it touched my heart!  Casey's Mom was concerned that he would be too picky during the shopping when indeed he was the least of all of the kids.  He basically let me pick out gifts for him seeming a little overwhelmed!  All of the kids and parents were so patient.  The wrapping station took a while and had to wait in line for quite a while at times.  The kids were also given a prize and got to pick out a free coloring book on their way out.
I was so sad when I had to leave to get Grace to dance.  Major Elaine from the Salvation Army begged me to stay and just take one more child but Owen was on the verge of meltdown.  Upon leaving I heard them call out number 143, Grace and Owen were 25 and 26.  I had a friend who brought her children at 10:10, the event started at 10, they were announcing number 43 when they entered stayed for 2 hours and never got a chance to go through, upon leaving she said the line was out the door and down the sidewalk.
I have realized after this day and a couple of other experiences with the Salvation Army how great of an organization it is.  Even though the day had a few snafus they really know how to pull it all off.  On top of the craft stations in the waiting area they had free hot cocoa and cider, cookies and a movie playing.
I am really looking forward to helping more next year, however next year I will do things differently as well.  For one, my kids will not be leaving with 2 bags full of presents, they will have a much smaller list of people to buy for.  Upon leaving I heard a lady say they were limiting the remaining kids waiting to 5 people on their list.  I will also bring more supplies donate to the event.  This year I donated my remaining bag of purses.  Over the next year I plan to continue to collect and set aside, gift bags, tape, new/used bows, and mens gift items.  These are all things that we went through quick and just having them would speed up the process.
Therefore, I am asking you to help us out!  Set aside your leftover gift bags, bows and tissue paper for us to collect and save for next year!  This was a great event that touched my heart and look forward to doing next year!