Today, I stepped outside of my comfort zone in more ways than one.
Starting last Friday, the town I live in put out a call for volunteers to please come help them make up sandbags. Their goal? 1.5 million sandbags! The deadline? ASAP or yesterday if possible.
How long does it take to turn 1.5 million empty white bags into usable sandbags, stacked on pallets? I don't know for sure. I can tell you this though.......by Sunday afternoon at 1:PM, they had already hit the 500,000 mark for finished sandbags stacked on pallets.
In two days, they have achieved one third of the goal needed. How? The city is running a volunteer supported operation starting late Friday night that will continue 24 hrs around the clock
until the need is no longer there for sand bags, or it is too late, and the flood waters win! From how far away are the volunteers coming? I don't know exactly, except my daughter decided to drive in from 3 hours out last night, so she could be there with us when we went as volunteers.
We parked at an off site sports facility, hopped a city bus, and ended up at a building that is used to park the garbage trucks in at night.
It was rather unreal, walking into the main building and seeing several hundred people working around multiple piles of sand, hearing the ear splitting beep beep beep of vehicles delivering sand or taking away full pallets of sandbags, and being told to find a pile of sand and start helping. They gave us gloves to use if we wanted, the Red Cross was there with food, water, Gatorade, etc. and the National Guard were there helping with the jobs that required specific training and certain skill sets that most of us don't have......one being incredible endurance to do a task over and over again hundreds of times for hours on end!!
We wandered down to one pile of sand, and had to dodge a load of incoming sand being delivered. I for one, am not able to lift a 30 - 50 lb bag of sand repeatedly for long. In fact, you can measure the time in minutes rather than hours. So I found a seat on an overturned recycling bin, picked up a funky looking tool, a piece of metal and started tying off the filled bags of sand.
First off, someone had to take an empty bag, put it on the end of the scooper, then scoop up enough sand to fill the bag up just halfway, pick up the bag, turn and put it within my reach. I then grabbed the bag, without getting up, pulled it over between my feet, grab a metal tie and with my funky tool, twisted it in place, then heaved the bag to the side of me and reached for the next bag. At some point, another person walked by, saw the finished bag, and took it over and stacked it on a pallet. The bags had to be stacked correctly so they wouldn't be broken or fall off when the pallet was picked up. Okay, nothing hard about that right? The job was broken down into basic steps, each person could choose what part of the process they wanted to do and then work at their own pace. You could take a break whenever you wanted to, for however long you wanted to. The city was hoping that people would commit to spending 3 - 4 hrs. at a time there working. We spent 3 hours making bags.
During those three hours I had an amazing experience! I worked hard, not as hard as some, but harder than I thought I could for 3 hours, non-stop. I chose not to take a break, as I was sitting down, doing so little. My husband and daughter took breaks as they were scooping sand and carrying finished bags to the pallets. I had a father and his 3 sons (the youngest was about 8 yrs) working on my left, several husband/wife teams on my right, alongside of my family. We all worked without much talking, as it was so loud, you had to lean up next to someone's ear to be heard!
I learned an important lesson today. That every little bit DOES help!! Now, what the heck does this have to do with troop support? Nothing and everything!
Many people think, "I can't afford to do a lot. I don't have the money to be a steady troop supporter! I don't have the time to do it." Those are excuses, NOT reasons!
I had plenty of excuses (not reasons) to avoid making sandbags today. I had them all lined up and had even marched out several of my best. "I will have a hot meal waiting for you when you get back home! I have to publish the news today for War On Terror News. I am not able to lift 30 - 50 pound bags of sand! I can't work for 3 hours doing physical work like that."
HA! My daughter looked me in the eye this morning and said simply this......"Mom! They asked for volunteers! They didn't say what kind of people they needed, just that they needed volunteers! If they couldn't use any ones help, then they would have said what kinds of people they wanted to show up! Come on Mom, I know you can do it."
Sighs.........Well we ate dinner out tonight! I did get the news published before we left. I still can't pickup sandbags for hours and hours that weigh that much, but I did go. I did help.
I would like to think I made a difference today! I have to tell you, I felt great walking out of there at the end of 3 hours! My hands were black with dirt from the ties, my boots had sand in them, I even somehow got sand in my hair (sand in my hair was the Ick factor not the dirty hands), I was exhausted, but I FELT GREAT!!
I challenge you to go to an organization, sign up to do some troop support on a regular basis. Once a week or once a month. Your choice! You set the pace! You determine what speed works for you!
I know you can get the job done! I know times are tough! I hear it everyday in the news! So? What's your point? Do you not have an envelope, one sheet of paper and a stamp? Can you not spare 10 minutes or less if you are speedy, to dash a quick note off to a soldier? I will guarantee you that he will take the time to read your letter! And chances are he will pull that letter back out at some later point and read it again!
Hmmm, not into writing to strangers? How about making a fleece blanket and sending it to a wounded vet in the hospital. Or perhaps you are a baker? Then you might enjoy baking cookies or treats and sending them off to an individual or group that needs a little cheer.
Maybe you don't like any of those options, but you do like to walk, or ride a bike or maybe you are even a runner! Well, then find an event near you that is supporting our military, and join in! There are road races popping up all over the country. Some raise money for scholarships, others for groups such as the Wounded Warriors Project.
Speaking of the Wounded Warriors Project, I will be doing a story on one of our wounded heroes and the Wounded Warriors Project here shortly.
Okay, now that you know some things you can do, you are still dragging your feet aren't you! I really don't know where to find someone's address to send them a letter, or even where to find these groups to join!
Ah ha! That is easy enough!
Looking on our left-side bar, you will find the following pro-troop charities that we support.
In addition to these there is the VFW Unmet Needs Program .
Still looking for a different group? Then you should go to our category, Support Our Troops - Actively and look at older stories listed here for more ideas.
There is nothing quite like the feeling of knowing you have done something different, out of the ordinary and one of the benefits is somebody else, somebody you don't know.
Oh, and stop to think about this......all those guys and gals in our military? They don't know you either, but that didn't stop them from protecting you, your family and our country! (We have an all volunteer military made up of a lot of individuals who wanted to help!)
So become part of something much bigger by doing your little bit, and it will be multiplied hundreds of times over, by others across this country who are doing the same thing!
Instead of being that person who always says "What difference can one individual make?" Be one small piece of the larger puzzle that is making a difference in someone else's life today!
Oh one last thought before I seek out my bottle of Advil and the bed........Don't just take my word for it. Iraq’s sandstorms delay ‘love in a box’ Just skim to the bottom of the article and read the part I highlighted in yellow!
BlackFive Followup on this event.
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