Our Day At The Food Bank

It isn't easy finding places for young kids to volunteer. No surprise, considering that most youngins have the attention span of a gnat and get tired of "working" after ten minutes. Not to mention that the majority of kids age five and younger are little factories of slime, and who really wants that coated all over their food - slash - program - slash - whatchamacallit? Not me. 

So imagine my delight when all three of my kids reached the magic age of six and up [THERE IS A GOD] and could help out at our neighborhood food bank. The greater Portland-area homeschoolers have a set time every other month where any of us can show up to help. Kudos to the volunteer coordinator at the food bank for being prepared and having our work well-organized. Orderliness is next to godliness, I like to say.

We joined with three other organizations for the afternoon to complete our job, which was to scoop from 100-pound bags of rice and repackage it into two-pound bags of rice. Scoop it, bag it, weigh it, box it, done repeat done. All we saw for three hours was rice, rice, rice.

We worked beside bankers, construction workers, and other homeschooling families. It was great to see people of all ages collaborating to help the hungry families in our area. The work was rewarding, and surprisingly, my kids labored tirelessly and without complaint for the duration of our shift. Other people would come alongside my kids to help them pack or tape boxes, and I was so happy to see them interacting with adults in a mature, respectful way. I never know quite what to expect when I take my tikes out into the world, where they basically represent the Entire Homeschooling Movement. No pressure, right?

We finished our afternoon of volunteer work with a guided tour of the food bank. See kids? We took a field trip aaaand checked an item off Mama's summer list, ALL IN ONE DAY.   

Fellow Portlanders: Find out how you too can volunteer at the food bank! It's fun!

Subscribe to this blog's feed and follow me on twitter and facebook!