Christmas Service Project

I think Anna's old enough now to understand how charity works, so I decided this holiday season would be a good time to teach her about service and giving back to the community and helping those in need.  This time of year you hear a lot about the homeless, heck you see panhandlers on every corner practically. But rather than just giving a dollar here or there to people who you don't really know what intentions they have with the money they collect, I decided we would collect coats and blankets for the Road Home homeless shelter. Last night alone (12/20/12) there were over 1,100 people staying at the shelter. That's 1,100 people who had NO WHERE to go. Very sad.

I sent emails out at work and to women in my ward/neighborhood. We collected 7 bags FULL of items from the neighborhood and another 6 bags from my coworkers. I think for a mom/daughter project, it turned out quite well!!

Donations from the neighbors

Dropping off at the Road Home

 There were 9 different radio stations at the Road Home so we mingled inside to take a look.

(My coworker Deb came along with us)

Look who we found inside! SANTA!!

Since Anna gave so much today to go towards helping others, Santa gave her a teddy bear as a thank you!

I let Anna take the day of from school to come with me to the Road Home to make our donations. It's one thing for her to see the bags sitting in the front room, but it's another to see where the coats are going and get a feel for whole charity experience.

Funny side story...
My boss still has his bear mount in the office so I told Anna to go pose with it. Look at her expression!!  Love this kid!!