{Advent Action} Day 21

21 Days Until Christmas

Today's activity: "empty the pantry and take items to the food shelf"

We talked with the boys about how much food we have, and how blessed we are to eat three healthy meals a day (plus several snacks!). We talked about how some people can't afford to buy food like we do, so they have to go to food shelves to get help. We told Drew that because we are so blessed, we get to share our blessings with others by donating some of what we have to them.

I was so impressed with Drew. He asked so many good questions, like "Why are we giving them our food?" and "Why don't they go to the grocery store?"

Such good questions, and I hope we gave him answers that he was able to understand.

Observing our full pantry, and explaining that we can put anything in our bags that isn't already opened.

And the emptying began! Both boys were grabbing cans and boxes, left and right! Reed was grabbing can after can, in an effort to do what his big brother was doing. Drew was a bit more purposeful. I would say something like "how about we give them some peaches?" and he'd start hunting for the peaches. When we started bagging up some cans of soup, Drew grabbed his can of Toy Story soup. I asked him if he wanted to donate that so another little boy could eat Buzz's soup, to which Drew said "YES!" and put it in the bag.

So happy to be a contributing member of society!

We need more bags!

The end result.

We then loaded up into the van and headed to a local church whose food pantry serves about 150 families each week. The boys saw the donation and distribution center, as well as the storage rooms for all the food that is donated. Drew even got to help fill one of the grocery carts for someone there to pick up their food for the week.

A learning experience for the boys, and a huge wake-up call for us.