Work Day

Last weekend, we had a family work day at Branches. One of the parents of an elementary student decided since Branches does so much for her child, she wants to give something back. Thus, the first annual Family Service Day was created. I invited all my roommates to come and help as well, partly because I was skeptical that anyone would even show up. Four of us, since JJ was still out of town, piled into the community car and headed down south. We got there early to help set us and to do a lot of the painting before the families got there. We arrived at eleven, and the parents were supposed to get there around three. However, two thirty five rolled around and the biggest rain storm I have seen since living here decided to descend upon Florida City. We looked around at one another and said, "it'll pass." However, almost an hour later, the rain was still pouring from the sky and only one family had shown up. We thought about calling it off, but decided to stick it out and find some inside projects for the family that showed up.

About ten or fifteen minutes later, families actually started showing up and they poured in steadily for the rest of the afternoon. So many families, actually, that we didn't have enough inside work for them to do. The rain finally subsided, thankfully, and all the families were able to go outside and plant our garden, mulch the playground, clean up all the trash and trim the hedges. It was amazing how much work got done. Every time I ran into my boss Kim, she would just smile and say, "I can't believe people showed up in the rain!" It truly was an incredible thing to witness. It was amazing to see how much these families care about Branches.

P.S. Who's idea was it to give kids paintbrushes?! Oh yeah...mine.