On Friday, November 16 my friends and I went with Water Watch to help out Operation Blessing who were helping out hurricane Sandy victims.  We went to a little store that they were using to keep all of the donations that they received.  The place was gammed full of clothes for all shapes, sizes and people and a whole section for toys for the little kids.  It was organized to a degree but things were everywhere and there was even more stuff to sort through and find a place to put.  Eventually we created another pile for things that would not fit into the store to be donated to the Good Will.  There were so many things, it was nice to see how much the community was pulling together to help those in need.  Everyone had a job to do, be it sort through the new donations, or organize existing donations so that everything can be easily found, some of my friends and I organized the toy section for the children.  There were piles and piles of board games, puzzles, coloring and regular books, and stuffed animals.  There were more stuffed animals than anything else and we filled seven big bags full of them just so that we had a place to put them all without having everyone step on them to get to the other things.  It took us a about two hours to get through all of the toys and set them up in a presentable way that they all could be seen and easily gotten too.  Luckily there was a lot of volunteers there to help everyone out; like little working ants people formed lines to get things done as fast as possible.

When we finally did finish with the toys we moved outside to help the other volunteers as they sorted through the mass of donations that clogged the sidewalk in front of the plaza stores.  All of it had to be sorted—garbage, keep, good will—by the end of that day and there was practically no room for anything else in the building.  A few of the things had to be thrown out; though people’s attentions are good some things were just too matted up or old to be donated to others.   By some miracle we got through all of the stuff before the day ended and the people were so happy for all that we did.  There was also a table set up a little bit away from the store where a family came with hot chili and other food to give to the volunteers and the victims for free.  They weren’t there with any group but by themselves just because they wanted to help out, buying food and making meals for others simply because they were good people; and the chili was pretty good if I do say so myself.

My favorite part of the day was when I was able to help a Spanish speaking family with my limited knowledge of the language.  It was a husband and a wife with their little infant boy trying to find some clothes after they had lost everything; the husband spoke some but the wife close to none.  Through my broken perfect Spanish and hand using smaller, basic words on their part we were able to get them everything that they needed and more.  They were both so grateful and it made me feel wonderful that all of my attempts at this language weren’t for not.  The fact that I could actually help out a family in the real world, putting my skills to the test, was a wonderful feeling and reminded me of why I am going through all of this schooling.

All in all there was a lot of work but it was all worth it and I am so glad that I could help out.  I will be going back in the weeks to come to help out with Operation Blessing’s other projects as well.  This group does so much and I am so happy that I can help them out even if it is only a little bit.  If everyone helped out just a little bit it would make things so much better, but after helping out on Friday I do believe that everyone is helping out.  Maybe there is hope for humanity still to be found.