Santa came to Community Action Services and Food Bank today. I wish I had a camera. He brought several elves and coloring books and warm socks to hand out and all was good in the world haha. One blessing of getting to work at this organization (one of about a billion) is that on a fairly regular basis I get to see true awe on children's faces. It's super cheesy, I know, but in a world where wants and needs are granted indistinguishably, I think it is getting rarer and rarer to see. I stood in a corner and watched as Santa talked to wide-eyed children, who's thrilled faces reflected the fact that this will probably be one of their only Christmas presents this year. It makes me want less.
Not only did Santa come to hand out presents, but the rest of the family read Christmas stories, played Christmas carols on the violin and just all around brought Christmas to our lobby. Poverty is overwhelming and stressful and full of fear. On an average day our lobby radiates those feelings as clients wait and worry. Today though, I made any excuse I could to cross through and pause a minute to watch.
On top of all this goodness, I received an email today from a friend who organized a fundraiser for our little food bank. She was able to raise $543.47. To put this in perspective with every dollar donated, we can produce up to 17 lbs of food or distribute 5 meals to a family. So that means she helped to create 2,717 meals or 9,239 lbs of food! That money will also go to help pay for things like providing temporary housing for families that have been evicted, providing warm winter clothes, school supplies, and hygiene items, and will help us to continue to provide our foreclosure rescue program to individuals in danger of losing their homes.
There is goodness and good people in Utah County. I'm grateful to get a front row seat to watch it!
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