Adults volunteered for each game of the season and I was required to only work one game - the last game of the season. By the way, thank you to all of our volunteers - Dwayne, Mickey, Megan, Gregarian, and Amanda! Great work!
Back to the last game. It was rough. It was so cold that our drink dispenser began having issues as the gates opened for the fans to get in. We continued to have issues through the second quarter, when the motor finally gave up the ghost.
Despite my frustration with being literally out of business before half time, it was a great experience! The two young ladies I worked with were awesome, our supervisor was a hoot, and despite hypothermia (lol), it was good. We made almost thirty dollars just in tips!
I asked the girls what they wanted to do with the tip money and after presenting their ideas to the group as a whole the following Sunday, they decided to sponsor a meal for a needy family for Christmas. After consulting with Saundra Arnold-Smith, our local elementary school counselor (and church friend), she agreed to find us a family.
A couple of Sunday nights later, I took the Youth to Wal-Mart to do the shopping. As we walked into the store, one of the kids turned around and handed me $15. Then another and another. By the time we started shopping, I anticipated we had enough money to buy food for two families. Let me make a point here that this was out of the ordinary! Most of our kids do not have money readily available and those that do are very particular about using it.
So we shopped. Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, mac-n-cheese, green beans, cookies and tons of other things... Then we went back to get breakfast foods like oatmeal, applesauce, pop tarts and then lunch foods - to which, ramen noodles were a requirement. We got to the register and had money left over, so we bought more stuff. We ended up purchasing enough food to provide breakfast, lunch and dinner for a family with eight children from Ethiopia.
As I sat on a bench waiting with the kids as a parent was due to arrive, I saw two of my youth turn around and walk quickly toward the opposite exit. I wasn't sure if they were making a run for it or what! As I watched them, they went over to an older gentleman in an electric cart, said a few words, and then began pushing the older gentleman in the cart. I watched in amazement as the man smiled and laughed with these two young men as they pushed him to the exit.
When they returned, I asked "what was that about?" One explained that the man's cart had run out of juice and he was trying to sit on it and push it with his feet. "He needed our help" the other explained. I smiled and told them that I was proud of them for not only the act they performed, but for being alert enough to notice the man. This wasn't something I asked them to do or prompted them to do in any way. It was all them. And for that brief moment, they were literally the hands and feet of Christ. Good stuff.
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