We had MOPS this morning so we actually did all our shopping and assembling yesterday! The kids had a lot of fun with this one!
First we headed to Target to get all our supplies!
The kiddos happily helped count out 6 of each item we needed! See, a math lesson and a lesson in caring for others all rolled into one! Don't ya just want to join us on this little adventure?
The first thing we did when we got home was organized our supplies. Actually the kids did that for me too!
Here's what went into our care packs in case you like to make your own! That's socks, deodorant, hand sanitizer, peanut butter crackers,
toothbrush and paste, hand warmers, Kleenex, nuts, wet ones, fruit
strips, granola bars, chap stick, lotion, and meat sticks!
We arranged everything in piles around our kitchen table essentially creating a little assembly line for ourselves! Then we set to work assembling them and in a matter of minutes we had 6 care packs!
They were so proud of themselves!!
The kids each made handmade cards to put inside our care packs. I felt like they needed something a little more personal. I wrote a scripture verse over their beautiful
Just packing these care packs greatly impacted the kids. As I type, they are going around the house filling bags with whatever they find and then telling me they are making care packages for the homeless. Then they walk up to me, tell me I'm homeless and hand me something from their bag and move on. The experts say kids learn through playing, I hope caring for others is something they'll always want to participate in!
After MOPS today we set off in search of people to bless with our care packs. If you live in my area you have probably seen the people with signs at nearly every exit in downtown Pasadena so we headed that way! Would you believe today of all days we had a more difficult time finding people in need? We cruised around for awhile and finally saw two men sitting outside the metro station with a shopping cart and a cute puppy. We circled back around, found a parking spot and set off to meet them! The kids did GREAT!! I prefaced the whole thing with what we should or shouldn't say in the presence of our new friends. I don't know about your kids, but mine have a way of saying the worst things at the WRONG time! We talked about how they might possibly smell a little stinky because they can't take showers regularly, or look dirty and that if we noticed those things we would keep them to ourselves until we got back to the car! The smell part worried Brennan a bit, and I caught him trying to plug his nose a little bit as we approached them, but by the time we got back to the car he said "They weren't stinky mommy!". At this first stop we met Frankie and Danny and their dog named Bev Bev that they let the kids pet! Drop off number one was a sweet success! At another stop, we met a man in a park named Fernando, he was wheel chair bound, the kids introduced themselves, I shook his hand and we wished him a Merry Christmas.
We handed half our care packs out the car window on freeway off ramps. I wish we could have gotten out and met them in person, but I'm not much for city driving and parking is an issue. Kaelyn handed one to a man out her window and he was very appreciative and thanked us. As he walked away he examined the contents of the bag and then turned around with a big smile on his face and gave us a thumbs up! I'm guessing they aren't used to getting actual care packs meant specifically to meet some of their needs. We were happy we were able to meet a few of his needs today!
Off to meet Frankie and Danny.
Since we had trouble finding people we decided to leave a surprise blessing on someone's shopping cart. We have no idea who received this care pack, but we hope they will be blessed because of it. And who doesn't like "mail", right??
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This was definitely something I want to do again, and we won't be waiting until next Christmas!
We love Sonic happy hour and we're excited to share it with someone else!
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