Tonight Taylor and Amy delivered about 10 left over Christmas gifts from the Veteran's dinner to other Veterans living in town. We contacted the housing authority who gave us the addresses of several men living in town and we were able to ring their door bells and surprise them with a Christmas gift! Wearing our elf hats and having Christmas gifts was quite a surprise that all of the men appreciated. We were able to visit the same men that we visited last year and it was nice to see them again and have some of them remember who we were. We still have several more gifts left over and as for the rest of them we are going tomorrow to bring them to a shelter in Nashua to offer some gifts to the homeless who go to the shelter for support.
Today Four Friends took a walk over to the Middle School during school hours and spent a few minutes talking to 7th graders about our group and community service. The reason why targeted the 7th graders for our presentation was because these are the students that will be entering high school the year we will be leaving the high school and hopefully have completed our 1,000 hour goal! Our hope is that by the time we are gone that other students will continue helping the community and volunteering. We showed the Teen Kids News interview that was made last year and also a video that was made to highlight the major goals of our group and the many different ways we have gone about reaching those goals. We tried to emphasize how volunteering is fun and everyone can find something that will interest them! The 7th graders were great listeners and some already seem inspired to begin volunteer work of their own which is so awesome because that is exactly what we are hoping to have happen!
Tonight Four Friends went to a school in Lowell and were elves of a reading and experience of The Polar Express. Children and parents attended the evening event dressed in pajamas and ready to board to "Polar Express" which was an area of black chairs. The students received golden tickets and had them hole-punched by the "conductor" just as in the book and movie. Then the kids listened to someone read them the book the Polar Express. After that they all went to the cafeteria where we helped hand out Hot Chocolate and Charleston Chews. We also went around and put every child's name in a hat to raffle off a basket that we donated that contained a copy of the book and sound track of the polar express along with hot chocolate, candy and cookies. Santa was there and pulled the winning ticket! We all had a lot of fun pretending to be Santa's elves and stirring hot chocolate!
This was our second year helping both serve the Veterans their December Christmas dinner and spread some Christmas Cheer! We were able to collect and assemble about 80 Christmas gifts through donations and hand them out to all of the Veterans that attended the monthly dinner. The gift contained a winter hat or socks, chap stick, gum, cookies or crackers, a scratch ticket and some candy! We would not have been able to make them without the generous donations of those from Trinity, we very much appreciate their support!! We all decorated the American Legion the night before with streamers, red table clothes, holiday napkins, a Christmas tree, and hanging snowflakes. We were also able to have two local musicians volunteer their time to come play and sing Christmas tunes to add to the holiday spirit! This year not only did we hand out gifts, but we raffled off several gifts such as Christmas cookies, leather shaving kits, and leather wallets. Taylor was the only one who was able to attend the serving of the meal, but the other girls were all there in spirit, and were a huge part in assembling the gifts and decorating the dining hall. We want to give a special thanks to the staff at the Legion who gave each of us roses for our volunteering. The men were so appreciative and happy to win the raffles and receive a gift, their reactions and appreciation are what make the experience so special. One older gentleman asked if he could give me a "Christmas hug" after I gave him his gift....now who would pass off that offer?! The Veterans Christmas dinner is a great way to begin December and the season of giving! Merry Christmas!
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