Thanksgiving Food Drive...

A few days before Thanksgiving, Ashlyn (with the student council) had the opportunity to deliver bags of food to some less fortunate families at a nearby Elementary school. Claire & I got to go because each student had to attend with a parent. The food was donated by parents at our school, with each grade collecting a type of food for Thanksgiving (example: stuffing, corn muffin mix, etc...) The PTO raised $1600 to buy turkeys for 220 families. 100% of kids at this school we visited receive free lunch and breakfast at school due to their financial situation. 

I laughed out loud when I read an online article about the experience the next week. It started by saying that my kids' school...

"is the kind of school where the moms have expensive haircuts and send e-mails from their iPads. With only 3.75 percent of students receiving free or reduced-priced lunches, the school is better off than most."

For the record, I don't have an iPad and my last "expensive" haircut was the worst I've ever had and my sister Natalie thankfully, fixed it over Thanksgiving! But I digress... We are very blessed and this afternoon was a good reminder of just how much we have to be thankful for...

We arrived and started helping upload the food and helped place turkeys at on the tables in the lunchroom according to the weight of the turkey. The families that needed food lined up outside the lunchroom with a ticket that said how many they'd be feeding for Thanksgiving dinner.  We lined up inside the lunchroom and were paired with families and gave them a bag of food and a turkey.  On the third of fourth time through the line, Ashlyn was paired with an older women that didn't speak much English. Ashlyn gave her the food, smiled and said "Happy Thanksgiving" and the woman had tears in her eyes and repeated "Happy Thanksgiving." Another couple said they were feeding 10, but didn't have an oven, so they'd need a turkey they could cook in their toaster oven or crock pot. That just about did me in! 

I was grateful that Ashlyn had an experience that allowed her to see outside of her little world. We all left that afternoon feeling incredibly lucky and truly grateful...