Volunteer Christmas Celebration Event
This has been by far the best start of any Holiday season I have ever had. Volunteering is a wonderful way to give back. I have a wonderful story of random acts of kindness that took place in The Dalles, Oregon. We had the great honor of volunteering to help design, decorate and prepare a Christmas celebration with F.R.G (Family Readiness Group) for our Troops and their families.
The Dollar Store donated lots of school supplies, toys, hats, scarfs and gloves for the soldiers children. The Army donated money for the food. Robert & Niki donated the cakes that Cirsh donated his time to design. We gave away toys, Santa was there, Christmas music was playing, we had raffles and the food was amazing! No-one left hungry or empty handed! Lisa B. with the F.R.G (Family Readiness Group) is such a wonderful person to work with, she has an amazing heart and worked so hard to make all this happen on short notice. We all know and recognize when it comes to the safety of our Military, decisions are made at last minute for their protection.
One of the most amazing parts of this story happens the day of the event….
We were putting on the celebration at a location that had a very small kitchen, not big enough to prepare food for over 120 people. We had to heat up the turkeys, stuffing, potatoes, rolls and (1) oven just wasn’t going to cut it. We got notice the day before the celebration that we had to find a kitchen to prepare the food. So all of us got on the horn and called all around town to see if someone out there would be so kind to have an industrial sized kitchen that we could use. The morning of the Christmas Celebration we still didn’t have a kitchen. I called Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue and was lucky enough to speak with Fred Coleman the Shift Captain. I asked him if he would allow us to use their kitchen and without hesitation Fred came to the rescue (no pun intended) and said “you sure can, come on over, we’ll meet ya at the door.“
All the firefighters on that shift were truly amazing and so very helpful. We of course invited them to come and join our celebration. They showed up, but not to sit down and eat, they volunteered their time to serve our soldiers and the soldiers families and this act of random kindness was not planned. I know! – amazing! To see the Firefighters volunteering their time to serve our soldiers was truly an amazing and awesome thing to be part of.
Our Troops deserved to have a beautiful Christmas Celebration and that is just what they got. There is something to be said about our soldiers. A few quotes that come to mind; “There is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer.” (check) “Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received – only what you have given: a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage”(check) ”I am only one, but still I am one; I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”(check). Thank you to all our soldiers out there, we greatly appreciate you for all your sacrifices. We are thinking of you and praying for you always.
Thank you to F.R.G for putting on the event, Fred Coleman, Steve Brown, Rick Harrington, Cliff Smith, Del Starks and Rob Graves with Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue.
P.S. I highly recommend volunteering if you want to feel the true spirit of Christmas.
xoxo – Stephanie @iPlanItRight
Our Sorted Donations
We set up trees like this all around!
Gift trees with hats, gloves & scarfs for the children
