Wrapping my head around it

On Monday, I made good use of my spare time and volunteered to wrap gifts for children. Lydia House is a non-profit organization that supports children and families in Illinois. Several different organizations rely on Lydia House to make Christmas and the holidays a good time for kids in foster care, mothers with infants who need help, among others. However, I was not quite prepared for what I experienced.

Instead of sitting at a table wrapping a pile of gifts in front of me, I walked into the gymnasium and there were boxes everywhere, piled on top of each other all around the room, kind of like a giant fort. Each box had a name on it with a wish list from the child. These lists are then distributed to different churches, organizations and individuals who would like to donate to this great cause. When I got there, there wasn’t much to wrap—just a pile of winter hats knit by a women’s group for the occasion. We distributed the wrapped hats to different boxes, looking for the hat color to match the child’s favorite color if possible.

About an hour later, a “delivery” was made. It took about 20 minutes to unload all of the gifts and the room was filled with bags and bags of unwrapped gifts. I was a little overwhelmed with the amount of presents that were donated in that one delivery. Not because I had to try my hand at wrapping some of them (I barely made a minuscule dent during my shift), but by the generosity of the people who donated them.

Even during a recession, people are still willing to give to others. It’s a humbling experience like this that renews one’s faith in the human race. My parents are good people and have always set an example of giving for their children; they even have two little gift requests hanging on the refrigerator at their house. It’s really nice to see that there are a lot more people out there who would sacrifice the equivalent of a week of Starbucks coffee in order to make someone’s holiday a little better. On the news all you hear is bad news—robberies, muggings, deaths, the sinking economy and unemployment rates. No wonder half the country is on Prozac and the other half is obese from eating in order to escape the dreary depression of the real world. I just don’t watch the news. Perhaps I would if more occasions like the one I witnessed in the gymnasium that day would be caught on camera.

I think I fulfilled my love and quota for wrapping gifts this holiday season… and I haven’t even started wrapping my own yet! Good think I’m traveling light this Christmas (just kidding, Megan) ;)