party planning

When I first moved to Fairfield I started volunteering at the Bridgeport Rescue Mission. Every Friday afternoon I would go down there and help serve dinner. I got to know some of the guys in the program, as well as many of the homeless people who come in every day for a warm meal. I always enjoyed going down there, but never felt needed. If they didn't have volunteers show up to help with dinner, they had some of the guys in the program help serve. Eventually I stopped going because (1.) I hate being somewhere when I am not really needed and (2.) I just got hit on a lot.

A while back I was checking their website for other volunteer opportunities and saw that they had an opening for a 'birthday party planner.' Basically they were looking for someone to come down once a month and throw a birthday party for all of the guys in the program. Now here was somewhere that I felt I could be useful! I interviewed back in January and we planned the first party for the last Sunday in February.

This past Sunday was my first party and it went very well. I had Ed come with me (to be my bodyguard :) and we hung out with about 20 residents. I had them fill out a questionare with ideas for future parties, and then we played the dice game. My aunt Kay has had us play this at family gatherings before and I thought it would be a good fit for the guys as well. I bought and wrapped a lot of small presents (books, candy, soda, chips, etc) and had the guys sit in a circle. They got to roll 2 dice in a pie plate and if they got doubles they got to choose a wrapped gift. We did this until all the gifts were gone. Then they opened the gifts and had to show each other what they got. The next round they did the same thing, but if they rolled doubles this time they got to steal a gift from someone else. They had a lot of fun and were very competitive at the end, stealing certain gifts back and forth. After the game we had cake and ice cream and I got to catch up with some of the guys I knew from before.

I told them I would be coming back every month now and a few of the guys came up to me and asked if we could play the dice game next month as well. I am grateful to have found such a great opportunity and look forward to building relationships every month.