Volunteering

My friend, Jodi, had signed herself up to do the morning volunteer shift at the American Diabetes Association Expo, held at a local conference center. We had to be there at 8:30am, which is a great sacrifice for young professionals as Saturday is the one day you get a lie in! That said, we arrived and were assigned to our posts and proceeded with the job at hand. The first part we were assigned to was admissions and this involved handing out bags for the expo freebies and taking tickets. Several pharmaceutical companies had generously donated free bags, though some were of a more sturdy nature. Upon first glance I could tell that there were not enough of the sturdy bags to go round! We gave out the regular bags first which were still pretty good though made of plastic and not canvas, and people kept coming back and asking for the stronger bags! However, once these had gone we had to give out flimsy carrier bags. The moral of this story is that you have to get up early in life to get the best out of your day!

We then moved onto exit stamping. If people wanted to exit and return later that day they needed proof that they had once obtained ticketed entry to the expo. The only mark that was acceptable for re-entry was the mark of the turtle!!! The kids loved it and some of the adults remarked on its cute nature! Despite the fact that people were only supposed to have their hand stamped if they wanted to gain re-entry, most of the children wanted one so we happily obliged. It gladdened many a weary parents heart to see their tired and fractious children proudly bearing their stamp!

One way home we stopped in a Kneaders for lunch and I may say that I was happily pleased at the healthy lunch we were able to purchase.