Operation Holiday

I try to volunteer every year around Christmas, and today I spent a few hours at Inter-Faith Ministries' Operation Holiday, which distributes food, clothing and other items to the needy for the holidays. Last year, the distribution site was in the Twin Lakes shopping center at 21st and Amidon. This year, it's at the shopping center at Kellogg and Rock. Just looking at the food set up at the site gives you an idea about how many hungry people there are in the Wichita area (the program serves an average of 12,000 people a year). A man who spends a week of vacation every year volunteering there says that they always run out of food by the end of the distribution. On Thursday, they were already running out of cereal, one item every person through the center is supposed to receive.

I helped people go through the line to get what they needed. One woman I helped had two adorable little kids, Fred and Lyndon. I watched them when she went to collect the T-O-Y-S (we spelled the word so the boys' Christmas surprise wouldn't be spoiled). After I helped her pack her items into her minivan, she told me that it was embarrassing for her to have to come for help but that I had made it easier for her. I told her that she shouldn't be ashamed: We'll never know what life is going to throw our way. I told her I could tell she was a good mom, and her eyes teared up. I think she needed to hear that as much as she needed to pick up the free items. Talk about putting things in perspective. Like the song in "White Christmas" says, tonight I'll fall asleep counting my blessings instead of sheep.