Thank goodness for volunteers

If we say "thank you" too many times, does it start to become redundant?  Lose its true meaning?  I hope not, because once again, the only words that can truly convey what we experienced yesterday are a very heartfelt THANK YOU.

When, days before Christmas, we put the call out for volunteers to come help us assemble bags, we didn't know what to expect.  Would people show up?  Would our plan work?  Would our ideas make sense?  Would everyone have fun?  As has happened time and again in the last six weeks, our worries were for nothing and our expectations were exceeded.

Our volunteers rocked.

They showed up in force and ready to work.  From toddler to adult, everyone was doing a job, and the completed bags piled up.  KPTV 12 stopped by to chat with us (see below for the link to that news story), and as Adrienne and I broke away to be interviewed, the buzz of productivity continued behind us.

When we began the afternoon, we thought we might finish the event with 35 bags to give to Catholic Charities for distribution.  We felt good about that number, and were told that that might meet, or come close to meeting, the need for January.  That would have been a fantastic day's work, and we would have walked away from the afternoon feeling pretty darn good.  Well, that didn't happen.  Not even close.

Instead, our AMAZING crew completed 62 bags.  62 bags.  In two hours.  62 bags that will go into the arms of 62 refugees just stepping off a plane into a new home.  62 bags that will help 62 people transition from a life unsettled to a place where they can take hold and grow.  62 bags that will bring comfort and the most basic of necessities to 62 people who have so little.

62 bags.

It's a day later and we are still marveling at what we were witness to yesterday.  To have been able to step back for a moment and see this thing that we dreamed up actually working was incredible.  Friends, family, new acquintances all teaming up to bring Butterfly Boxes to life.  We are, as always, so thankful.  

Please continue supporting and spreading the word, and we'll do it all again next month!
​- Alysson and Adrienne

KPTV - FOX 12