Four Friends, Four Years, For a Difference

    Today was an interesting day, we finally got to help out at the Empty Bowls Fundraiser.(This event seeks to raise awareness of the growing need for support of local food pantries. Sponsors of this event encourage guests to take bowls home with them as a reminder of the need to fill empty bowls.)         We first arrived and were shown the bowl room. It had over 300 bowls beautifully hand painted by caring people. Local girl scout troops, boy scouts, and even a group of 6th grade students from a local school donated their time and painted bowls with creative sayings and beautiful designs. The doors opened to the public at around 12. Hungry people poured in, holding more than one bowl. If  you bought a bowl and were getting soup you paid twenty dollars. If you were just getting soup then you got a yellow ticket and only paid 10 dollars. Children got a green ticket and got in for only 5 dollars. Amazingly, within one hour three tables that were once filled with bowls were now empty and only one table remained. Since we were in charge of giving people raffle tickets I was able to see who chose which bowls. I was thrilled to see  a very nice lady chose my handcrafted bowl! .(Its weird to think that people are going to use the things that i made in their own home) All the people that bought bowls seemed so impressed with  their uniqueness and creative designs. In the end it, was a huge success and we heard the soups were delicious!. They were donated from different companies and culinary schools from all around Massachusetts! What a team effort!

    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!

   Today we sold bracelets at our town fair to raise money for Los Obras Sociales.When we were in Guatemala, we bartered in Spanish at a market in Antigua to purchase 100 bracelets so that we could sell them in the U.S. to raise money for the orphanage.
 We woke up really early so we could decorate our table with  colorful blankets and trinkets  we got in Guatemala. There were many different tables fillled with handcrafted items that other people from our town were selling. There were beautiful displays of homemade jewelry, candles and crafts. Our table was set up in the back and we had displays of photos about our trip to Guatemala and our other volunteer projects. Many people stopped and asked us about our experiences and bought bracelets to support the orphanage. It was a very successful day and we earned a lot of money for a great cause! 

What's more fun than making a pie for someone who would really appreciate it?......How about making 10 pies for over 60 people who would really appreciate it! 
We gathered at one of our houses and peeled, mixed kneaded and baked  our pies to perfection. It didn't take too long as we played our favorite music and got to work. It was great knowing that they would go to our veteran friends for their  Thanksgiving. Many would only taste our homecooking for their holday and we wanted to make it special. Happy Thanksgiving!

Four Friends
 

As much as I can try to capture the experience and emotions of helping in an orphanage I will do my best. This by FAR has been the most moviing and "life Changing" experience of my life. I only wish I was there longer to make a bigger impact, but I know that I will do my best to return next summer with even more supplies and more time to spend with those beautiful children.
    When we first arrived at the orphanage, it was a bit overwhelming. We arrived with all the supplies our luggage could carry. We had bibs,cups, special spoons, botttles,books,toys, crib sheets,pillow cases, and clothing. The staff was so appreciative of all the items we brought and we were able to put many of the things to good use right away. Since many of the children were already up, we went right to work trying to stimulate  them with the toys in our kits we made, We used bubbles and watched as the kids tried to pop them. Seeing their  somber faces transform into bright smiles overwhelmed me with emotion!
 One of my favorite moments was when I got a chance to read to one of the little boys stuck in his crib. As I read in Spanish, I acted out the actions that the book was saying, Amazingly,the little boy began to  copy my gestures. He truly was understanding everything i was saying! It was the best feeling.I continued my way to the numerous other cribs trying to get some kind of reaction. It was so sad to see so many  children with so little stimulation! 
 Later, we had a chance to work upstairs helping the staff to feed the many babies with cleft pallate and other developmental disabillities. (I was able to feed an 18 day old baby! ) In just two days, we made many attachments and I knew it was going to be tough to leave. One boy named Jose really made an impression on all of us. He was 5 years old, but to look at his scrawny, malnurished body, you would have thought he was under two. . NO matter what any of us tried, we just could not get him to smile.All he wanted was to be held and we each took a shift as we walked him up and down the nursery. It was the hardest thing I had to do, when I put him down to leave for the last time. The last image I have is the vision of him, sitting on a stool as he realized it was time for all of us to leave. He cried and we  tried to conceal the tears as we all silently wondered if we would ever see him again.  

.Today Four Friends volunteered for a great cause called Habitat for Humanity. Through volunteers and donations of money and materials, Habitat for Humanity is able to build houses for people in need. Today we all went to one of the locations for the building of new houses. We learned how to insulate the house and ended up actually insulating it! It was a different experience from all of the other activities we have done in the past. It took a lot of hard work and determination throughout the day. We worked all day and learned many new skills. It was a lot of fun and we all knew that it was going to a good cause. We enjoyed the experience and would love to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity again! If you are interested in volunteering please go to:
www.habitatforhumanity.org