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A Weekend "On"

This whole weekend has been filled with nothing but community service.

Saturday we went to Elk Grove to serve people crabs at California's largest non-profit crab feed. We wore red vests (there were four sections-blue, green, red, and orange and the vests showed which section we were helping). We brought out bins of bread, trays of pasta, and buckets of crab/shrimp. Then we collected all of the empty plates and dishes. Then we took down the tables to make room for dancing, and picked up all the litter on the floor. Did I mention this took place in a barn? Yeah, the "floor" was really manure-y dirt. It was in a barn used for Project RIDE, an organization that works directly with a special needs school nearby. They have kids with mental and physical disabilities come and ride horses. It's an awesome organization, I only wish I had more time to volunteer there when the kids were there. They served 1,600 people  with 3,800 pounds of crab and about 800 pounds of shrimp (which cost Project RIDE about $24,000, at a fair price). It was fun, but exhausting. We were there for seven hours.

Sunday we went back to finish the clean-up. For the first hour we organized chairs and tables to be put into storage. Then we were fed some egg mixture and potatoes. Then Seth and I went into the "kitchen" (it had been set-up especially for this event) and cleaned dishes. So many dishes. Mostly containers that had been used for melted butter, but also some big gatorade containers that held coffee. Both very pleasant smells. I also cleaned out a huge pot with more than an inch of solidified butter in it. We scraped it out as best we could and ended up getting it pretty clean- but not without getting my clothes dirty. I had grease stains and butter all over me. We spent five hours there and were finally done. But my day wasn't over yet. The school psychologist, Cindy, had asked if anyone on our team would be interested in moving some boxes around in her garage (for money, not community service this time). So Amanda and I went. It took us five hours to clean out and rearrange her garage, though it didn't look much better when we left. She wanted us to organize and make room for a trailer tent without throwing anything out. A pretty impossible task if you aks me. Especially when you see how much stuff she had. But it did look way better, and we did fit the trailer tent in, which was probably her biggest goal. We also took apart a bed and put another one together for her. We each earned $50. Completely worth the exhaustion.

Today, Monday, is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And for AmeriCorps that means it's not a day off, but a day "on." So since the school was closed, we had a different project. We were split in two groups. My group was in charge of picking up litter along 18 blocks of MLK Blvd. We found lots of used diapers in empty lots. The other group was going door-to-door distributing goodie bags with a light bulb and some paperwork in them. It was only a half-day though, so we're done and it's almost 1pm. Did you know that this year marks the 40th anniversary of MLK's assassination? I thought that was pretty cool.

Well now it's time for PT, we are going running outside. Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

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