"Goodbye decent people"

OK, so here is the story of our day.

As most people are aware Disney is sponsoring a program called, "Give a day, get a day". This encourages people (1,000,000 to be exact) to donate their time volunteering for a number of organizations through the Hands on Network. Check out the link! In exchange for a day of service you get a free ticket to a Disney theme park.

Hubby and I have been planning a trip (God willing) to Florida to stay a week with our brother and sister. We usually like to try to get to Disney if at all possible when we go. In the past we have had our tickets paid for already (we bought 5 day passes when we were just dating and used them a day at a time) and gone to Disney without worrying about the cost of tickets-- well you get what I mean. The last time we were there we took Ollie who was not quite 3 (free) and we used our last day. So we really were wondering how we could get there this trip. THEN, I hear an advertisement for the "Give a day, get a day" promotion. AHHHH, that is how we can go to Disney and take the girls. They had advertised for several months that this promotion would begin on Januray 1, 2010 and they would post the listings for the volunteer positions on that day.

I tried, oh, I tried to sign us up, but the web site was bogged down with so many people doing exactly as I was. I FINALLY got hubby signed up as the leader of our family, but it stopped there and only took his name before crashing again. I had found us a place not too far from home, in NC, working with a hunger/homeless program from 6-8 pm one day in the near future. Not a bad drive and only 2 hours of work. The only problem with this is that before I could add myself to the roster, all of these jobs were filled. Soooo, I cancelled that one and found one in Crossville at the PAWS thrift store.

This place is run by a couple of paid staff and many volunteers. The proceeds go to the Humane Society of the county. Were scheduled ourselves from 9am to 6pm CST. (Just our luck the tile outlet there opens at 8am so we were able to do double duty while there and found tile for our kitchen floor we are about to be laying.) We got there a little early and waited out in the van for the lady to get there to open.

There were many cats peering at us through the windows of the store. Hmmm, yep, smelled a little like cats, but not a bad as we expected. We were taken through this huge store (looked like an old grocery store stripped and turned into a thrift store) to a pretty large stock room piled high with boxes (thousands) and bags. We were told to process the bags and put them on hangers. We worked togehter for an hour then the manager got there and told us we used the wrong hangers. So we re-hung all of the clothes. THEN we found out from the stockroom manager that we were hanging them wrong on the correct hangers, so we re-rehung them.

We were a little annoyed, but still it was no biggie we figured. We worked and emptied so many bags of clothes. We then had our lunch break (a lunch date). After lunch we moved even faster at sorting and processing donation items. Then we stacked the summer boxes and organized as much as we could... I'll post pictures of the stock room when I get home. We talked very little to the other ladies working there and the handful of teenagers.

One lady came and asked us if we were doing community service. She told us (in a very heavy accent) that when she came here she thought community service was for people who killed other people to pay their debt to society. She then learned that in that county, in order to receive welfare help, you had to volunteer for community service for 20+ hours each week. She said they got a lot of BAD volunteers who did more complaining and annoying and getting in the way than actual helping. She and the other volunteers there that day did it for the animals and are there all the time. She told us we were very efficient and asked us why we were volunteering and if we would be coming back tomorrow. Of course, I told her the whole spill and that we were pretty far away and that we would not be back.

At 6pm she told us we could go so we walked out with her. As we were leaving she turned to us and in her thick accent said, "Goodbye decent people."

It was pretty cool over all working alongside Hubby again. We used to work together and always work well together. We make a great team and even though we were working we had the whole day together to laugh, poke fun at nasty donations, help each other, talk and just be together. It was really a day well spent. So "Goodnight decent people". I would totally recommend trying this even if you are not going to Disney. It was hard and a little yucky at points work, but fun. If you choose to do it through the Hand on Network and Disney, you can donate your free ticket earned to certain charitable organizations. What a great way to give back.