Week 45

April 22nd, Good Friday

Paige, Emma and I started our shift at the church at 3:30!! The girls set the tables, 135 place settings. Once they finished that they were asked to make treat bags to go on top of each plate. So they got busy making 135 candy bags!! After about 30 minutes the girls were off to get the craft table ready for blowing out and dying eggs. The children guests tried blowing out the eggs for the first time ever. They were so happy and excited to do a new craft! It got messy but never once did Paige complain. When we invited a new 10 year old girl to try dyeing an egg, she shook her head and sat at her table quite nervously. By the end of the night she came up with a big smile on her face and told us about the egg she had made. So great! Dinner was served at 6:00. So many guests arrived that we had to take down the art tables to accommodate more families. We forget that for some this Easter tradition is not a number one priority, as many of our families are struggling to make ends meet and don't even have enough to feed their children and pay rent. Once everyone had gone up for their hot meal of turkey, veggies, stuffing, etc. Emma and Paige walked around and gave every child a goody bag and card that they had made. It was such an amazing thing to watch. All the kids put on their masks and gave the girls a big smile!! They worked hard until 6:45 and we finally were able to sit down and enjoy the turkey dinner too!! What a great way to spend GOOD FRIDAY!!

Week 44

Cute picture eh?? Hard to see who it is behind those cute little bunny masks. That's Paige, Abbie, Emma, Brock, and Jack!!

In March when we were at church volunteering, Jack and Emma offered to make goody Easter bags for the children who came to the hot meal service on Friday nights. Paige has been to church with us before so we thought it was fitting that she and the other kids could help make these bags for the Easter dinner on April 22nd. Inside the bags the kids decided to get pencils, silly bands, stickers, bunny masks and of course lots of chocolate eggs. They worked together as a team and set everything up on the table and made 30 goody bags. We tied them up with a nice ribbon and put them in a big Easter basket, ready for church. Then Paige had a great idea!! She wanted to make Easter cards for all the children that we would hand out the bags to. So the girls sat down for a couple hours and made 30 Easter cards! They did an amazing job. We talked a lot about why they made the goody bags and cards for the children. The families that visit the church for a hot meal on Friday nights may not have enough money to be able to buy special treats, or cards for their families. Paige and the girls quickly realized just how lucky they are!! As I was bringing home Paige that day she asked if she could come to the church too, the following week. So we booked our next date, April 22nd to prepare a hot turkey dinner and hand out the great goody bags they made:) Till next week Paige!! xoxo

WEEK 43

Thursday April 7th, 2011 Today Paige and I got together to continue her 52 weeks of giving. It never ceases to amaze me how excited she gets to go and do these events. She really loves going out and helping people and her community!! The weather seemed to be holding out for us so we decided to go to the Hamilton Beach strip (by hutches-- oh ya!!) to clean up some of the litter that had been uncovered by the melting snow. With Earth Day just around the corner it seemed fitting. We were surprised at how much garbage was on the beach considering that the weather hasn't even been nice yet. We figured that some of it had washed in from the water and that some had just been moved and uncovered by the winter. The weather down at the beach was not so nice to say the least - super windy and chilly. Not the best for this event. However, Paige..in what seems to be true Paige fashion...totally trooped it out with me to gather enough litter to fill one black garbage bag. Can you believe that it only took us 20minutes to do it?? How sad is that?? Not sad for us..we rocked it..but sad for the environment!! And of course...after our lightening speed garbage pick up...we needed to warm up with some classic Hutches fries and icecream!! Perfect way to end a hards days work I say!!! Good Job Paige!!!Jo