What an amazing year! After making both drop offs, we got back in the car, mom was trying not to cry, Alec reaches over and gives mom 'five'. He says to mom, "Next year I am getting 500 of each. Just wait, I'm really going to do it. Just watch." It's that feeling we all had leaving the schools we made the donations to. A feeling of gratitude for what we have, and a feeling of such warmth knowing help was coming to hundreds of children.
THANK YOU to all of you who made such a drop off possible.
This years totals were...
482 - socks (record! wow!)
175 - gloves
178 - hats (record)
175 - gloves
178 - hats (record)
**bonus **
10 - coats
2 - snow pants
2 - scarves
Playing basketball with socks! (of course)
The night before we were going to Midvale Elementary we separated all of the donations. We knelt together around them and Alec offered a prayer on them. He prayed that the hats, gloves and socks would get to the children who needed them. He also asked for a blessing to be on each one of those children.That night on ABC 4 news we saw a story on a school in West Jordan, which is in our district. They said that the children of Oquirrh Elementary have been staying in from recess because they do not have coats and the proper clothing to be out in the cold. This is the exact reason Alec started this charity. So that children would be able to still play outside in the winter. PERFECT!
After talking with Alec about it, we decided to give all the coats to that school and ask the principal if they needed hats or gloves as well. She told us they could definitely use the gloves too. So we donated half the gloves we received to this school along with all the
coats, snow pants, and scarves. They were so thankful for Alec and couldn't believe all the bags we brought in.
Here they are.
Here they are.
The next school we went to is one that we have visited every year, from the time we knew about JSIT (Jordan Student Intervention Team). Midvale Elementary has become very important to us over the past 5 years. As we walk inside and see the beautiful children walking in the halls, little kindergartners holding hands singing 'Wheels on the Bus', many of them staring at my kids with their bags of winter clothing, we know that there is great need at this school. This is a school where 93% of their students receive free lunch and 7% are on reduced. Much is definitely needed.As we walked in their main office just to check in and tell them we were on our way to the JSIT room, we were saddened to find out that Midvale Elementary is no longer in the Jordan School District. This meant that the JSIT program had to move to another school. We asked for the address where the new school was and as the receptionist was finding it for us, there were a couple teachers in the office at the time saying how much some of their students could use what we brought. One of them told us about a program they had called Santa's shelves, or sleigh, I can't recall the exact name of it. She said that many children missed out on receiving anything from it, and that she could also use these things.
We IMMEDIATELY said we would love to leave ALL of the donations in the bags to them. They went and got the man who was head of that program and he was very happy to have all the items Alec collected. The principal came out and talked with us, she was delightful, and also so thankful to receive these items for her children. She said that she would send an e-mail out to all of her teachers to let them know they can come and get any of these items for the children in their classes along with their family members. PERFECT!
Alec was thankful to know that his prayer was answered. That all of the donations were given to exactly who was suppose to receive them.
There is nothing better than to give.
It's so fun to see the kids get back in the car and really realize that.
It was a good, good year.
(Then I have to make sure they go home and WRITE it in their journals so they will never forget that feeling!)
