Oh, sure. Most of our friends decided to beat the clouds and get out of Portland for Spring Break this week. Mexico. Hawaii. Southern California.
To that I say, “HA!” We are having MUCH more fun here in town serving our local community.
(Yeah. There’s no way to say that without a bitter, envious undertone. Lord, I need sun!)
No matter. We are here and we will volunteer!
On Friday before school let out, my friend Tara and I took our home-schooled girls to 5 public schools collecting cafeteria leftovers for the Sunshine Food Pantry.
I love Fork it Over for the ease of serving, but also because I know that food otherwise thrown out will go to needy families.
But I can’t let my 10 year old have all of the fun. I also planned an activity that we could do with my teenager. Through Hands On Portland, I registered the 3 of us to volunteer at Children’s Book Bank, cleaning and repairing donated books for new owners.
Two of my favorite people spearheaded our book cleaning efforts. MyNameIsEarl (how can I NOT call him that) and Robin always make my day brighter. Seriously. Others who are passionate about social justice and discuss books. What’s not to love?
How totally fortunate that also volunteering that day were an international group of high school English teachers touring our country, getting ideas about our educational structure and library systems. We spoke with representatives from India, Nigeria, Poland, Costa Rica, and Azerbaijan. I would have paid for the experience to have my girls sit and talk with these folks, and here we all were. 2 hours of working together and discussing various cultures.
As we finished our duties for the day and began to clean up, I overheard MyNameIsEarl share this thought with Robin, “Isn’t it amazing that with our different backgrounds, our different cultures, we can all find a common bond in books?”
Well said, my friend. Well said.
We Zomermans may not have visited exotic locations this week, but the educator in me will take learning opportunities whenever I can. Even on Spring Break. Don’t you wish you were my kid? (Insert sarcasm font here.)
Related Posts:
Fork It Over
Children’s Book Bank
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