SOS - Summer of Service 2012

So, a friend of mine from the singles ward days started posting last year on Facebook, about all the great SOS projects she and her children were doing up North.  I got curious, and asked her to expand on SOS and she did!  Thanks to Melissa, we have the 2nd chapter of the SOS club right here in Thornton! 

Each week throughout the summer on Thursdays at 10am you can expect my friends and I to be gathered together in red shirts to complete some sort of service project with the goal of teaching our children the importance of service.  

I was nervous that no one would have time or desire to participate!  We have nine weeks and 18 mom's willing to head up one of those weeks of service.  I can't even mention the number of kids we all have.  

Week 1...fireman appreciation and practice singing for the nursing home in July.  We delivered cupcakes to local fire stations.  

Week 2...decorate paper that will be turned into placemats and sent to various nursing homes.  In addition, we put together a great crayon/notebook concoction that will be given to children who have to leave their homes without their crayons and paper.  

Week 3...spent a few weeks gathering mens clothing, towels and toiletries and then we delivered items to St. Francis Center for the homeless.  We took a tour and we were able to see homeless men and women being serviced at the Center.  It's an amazing place and Sharon was fabulous at explaining all they do there to the 20 kids who were present.  My van was full of donations.  I think we doubled their inventory!  It was great for the kids to see how some other people live.  

Week 4...weed Sister Barbara Bell's lovely yard!  It was a hot one, but the kids worked hard to fill individual bags with weeds.  We followed up with some otter pops to cool us down.  Sister Bell called the kids "angels."  It was a great project. 

Week 5...what could be better than an otter pop on a hot day followed by some song practice and playing at the park?!  Um...nothing!  We passed out a few hundred otter pops to kids at the park.  We all loved it!  So much fun.

Week 6...We beat the July heat by heading to the basement to make tissue paper flowers and cards to pass out to the senior citizens at the independent living facility the next week.  They turned out so cute and the residents absolutely loved them.  

Week 7...Here are the cutest kids I know!  Singing their hearts out.  We sang "primary" songs about summer in addition to "take me out to the ball game!"  The residents loved us and we loved singing.  

Week 8...In honor of the 2012 Olympics, we had our very own "Penny Olympics!"  We played various games with pennies and collected $22.40 for the Special Olympics Team.  Aren't the medals for the kids (and adults) so cute!  

Week 9...I had a better picture of the whole group, but I don't know why it didn't download.  Anyway, we ended up donating five boxes worth of books to the "Friends of the Broomfield Library."  They sell the books and give the money back to make the library better.  Although turnout was small in numbers, we made a large impact.  It was great.  Thanks to Elaine and Dorothy for their efforts.

So, there you go...goal met!  My children learned more about serving others this summer through our first Summer of Service Club.  It was rewarding for all who participated.  It was educational and fun.  I'm so grateful for the mom's and children who had the desire to spend an hour with us each Thursday morning to help make some kind of impact on the world.  It was a great experience.

I'm really excited to see what we will do next summer. 

Thanks to the Busch's, Fillerup's, Shiner's, Bruggeman's, Shafenberg's, Holland's, Bell's, Hosfelt's, Knabb's, Thornton's, Cone's, Gibson's, Flint's, Marx's, Nelson's, Lisa Thornton and the Jensen's for a wonderful summer of service!