It was a Great Day (Day of Service)

The Day of Service event I organized with an amazing team of volunteer leaders, to benefit Operation Gratitude went off beautifully this past Saturday. Around 90 volunteers turned out to over five hours to make 120 paracord survival bracelets, write hundreds of letters and cards, and collect scores of newspaper comics, crossword puzzles, and sudoku puzzles that will be included in care packages that get shipped to U.S. Service Members deployed in hostile regions. The event took place at the Black Contractors Association (BCA) building in the Encanto neighborhood of San Diego.

Here are some photos from the event:

Starting left, going clockwise: Welcome sign greeting volunteers at the door of the BCA; two volunteers braiding paracord survival bracelets; a snapshot of the interior of the BCA during the day; many families brought their kids to attend this event.

All volunteers received a short training on the types of activities in which they could participate and the guidelines for letter-writing.

Kate's first letter for Operation Gratitude (she made a total of three that day) which she dictated to me. I love that she started it with the greeting, "Dear Super Hero...."

All the supplies were donated by generous volunteers. This is what we started with at the beginning of the day. The contributions grew as the day continued and inspired participants towards creativity.

Braiding paracord survival bracelets was a popular activity and also provided community service hours for high school students. We had volunteer trainers (Margret and Belinda) on hand to teach people how to make the bracelets.

Completed paracord bracelets.

Volunteers hard at work!

We've received many inquiries as to whether we will be hosting other community service opportunities and events and the answer is a resounding, "yes!" We expect that our next event will take place in early March, if not sooner.

Many thanks to all the community members who turned out to participate in the event, to the volunteer leaders who helped organize the event, and to the Hameeds for generously allowing us to use the BCA for our event.

See you at the next one!

Operation Gratitude and the National Day of Service

Hi everyone! Hope you're all having a great week. (For those of you who are In Pursuit of Pretty Things readers, this is a duplicate post.)

This Saturday, January 19th, is the MLK National Day of Service and I want to invite everyone to participate in this really wonderful event.

Back in 1994, Congress designated the national Martin Luther King Jr. holiday as a National Day of Service. Across the nation, in pretty much every community, there are community service and volunteerism activities planned in honor of the day. It's a great way to get together with your friends, family, and neighbors to give back to our greater communities and recognize the value of service - both to ourselves as contributing individuals and to the recipients of our generosity and time.

No matter where you live or where your interests may lie, you can find opportunities to volunteer at the the MLK Day website as well as the Presidential Inauguration Committee's National Day of Service website (non-partisan).

For those of you who are in the San Diego area, I want you to invite you to join me (and Kate) at a Day of Service activity benefitting Operation Gratitude, which is an organization that sends care packages to U.S. Service Members deployed in hostile regions. We will be hand-writing letters and making cards and paracord survival bracelets that will be included in the care packages assembled and shipped by Operation Gratitude. 

You can register to attend here or just show up:

Operation Gratitude: Letter Writing Campaign for the National Day of Service

Location: Black Contractors' Association

6125 Imperial Avenue

San Diego, CA 92114 (map here)

Time: 10 AM to 3 PM (Come for the whole time or drop by when you can.)

Date: Saturday, January 19, 2013

This is a great activity for families - parents and older children can write letters and make cards or bracelets and even smaller children can participate by drawing pictures for inclusion with the cards and letters. I'm the event leader and will be there the entire time, so if you do attend, please say hi! 

What are your plans for the National Day of Service? If you have an activity in which you're participating in your area, please feel free to post the details in the comments below for other readers. 

Thanks for stopping by!