Helping Tackle Hunger

I want to share about something special the kids did, but first a couple tidbits about the rest of last week. Wednesday I volunteered at the book fair at Evan's school. Do you remember the book fair when you were in school. Good ol' Scholastic Book Fair during parent teacher conferences. I remember going and getting so excited about the books and picking out "cool" posters for my bedroom. It was fun times as a kid. The book fair these days is still pretty much the same... books on carts, a box full of posters to choose from, and a section of that stuff you just had to have- pencils, erasers, bookmarks, little toys, etc. The stuff parents hated right? However, the checkout process at the book fair is a little different these days. Now they have little mini cash registers to check out at, which I had to work. It was very easy and had a touch screen that pretty much prompted you along the way. I volunteered my two hours and then it was time for parent-teacher conferences.

Greg met me at school and we went to our first kindergarten conference. I wasn't worried at all because Evan got such a wonderful report card, but was still anxious to hear what his teacher had to say. It was all pretty much good and Mrs. Mills said that Evan was a reader and a writer. She said he always comes to school with a smile on his face, and he works well with the other students. She told us that we prepared him well for kindergarten which really felt good to hear as a parent. She shared some of his work with us which I have to say he did an awesome job on the assignments! Way to go Evan, Mom and Dad are so proud of you!

Now onto the "special something" the kids did I mentioned. Thursday night I wanted to get some cleaning done so Greg took the kids to the store so they could buy some food for the "Help Tackle Hunger Fourth Annual Food Drive." If you remember back to last year about this time we did the same thing. This is the 2nd year we've donated to this particular food drive which I've decided is going to be a tradition for our family. This is a special time of year with the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and I want my kids to know the importance of the spirit of the season which is giving. It's important to me to make sure they know there are many people less fortunate than us who don't have all that we have. While we're not living the rich life of millionaires as I've said before, we know that there are many who are less fortunate than us. Helping out, even if it's a little bit, makes a difference. The "Help Tackle Hunger Food Drive" is held each year in November during the week prior to the last home MSU football game. Coach Dantonio's wife, Becky, is the event chairperson for the drive.

Last year I bought some food and told the kids what we were doing with the food. This year I gave them each $5 to spend and they could pick out their own items with the help of Greg. They went to Meijer and got to pick the stuff out, put it in the grocery cart, and pay for it at the check out all by themselves. They did a terrific job and came home with three bags of food. They had a total of $10 and ended up spending $10.17 which I don't think you could get much closer than that! Here's some pictures from their shopping experience.

Emmaline picking out some fruit for the food drive!

Evan decided on some instant potatoes for one of his choices!

After they were all done shopping, the kids got to scan the items all by themselves that they picked out.

Time to head home and show mom what they picked out!

Here's all the food they bought with their $10

Friday afternoon we went to one of the drop off locations at the MSU Union, and we dropped off the bags of food. The kids were so proud to be helping out others.

We look forward to helping out again next year! I've still got to give you a run down of the weekend, but that will have to wait until my next post. I need to get in bed because Brooke is coming bright and early tomorrow when I'll be babysitting!