Trash For Teaching sounded pretty darn dope, so I was excited to sign up to help them.
Their little tagline-type thing is “minimizing waste, maximizing education.” They take materials that would usually go to waste, and have people make crafts (or inventions) out of them.
The materials come from many various places including businesses, even police stations, and more. (From police stations, they receive these little plastic rectangles with tons of holes – because they used to hold bullets!
There’s yarn, thread, glass tubes, paper products – basically a smorgasbord of materials with endless possibilities.
Kids can come in during certain hours of the weekend and build their own projects. It’s pretty awesome. I love watching the kids be creative and make adjustments on the fly!
(Trash for Teaching also works with schools, and helps supplement programs to help kids not only stretch their imagination, but learn about math and science and all that biznatch.)
So, I went to a weekend day. I was expecting that the day would revolve around helping the kids. But really, the day revolved around unpacking boxes and organizing new supplies. I actually enjoyed that portion of the day because I adore organizing.
And, I ended up being handed the knife so I was the box opener. That was fun because I had a specific job and had the challenge of trying to safely open the boxes (responsibly – in a way so they could be used again) fast enough to stay ahead of everyone doing the unpacking.
Ultimately, my friend who went with me also jumped in on opening boxes, which I think was a great idea. As is shown all the time – teamwork makes the dream work. Things moved more efficiently/smoother when two people were opening for a large group. (Hands can only move so quickly! :-P)
As the opening of many, many boxes started to wind down, we heard one of the leaders say, “do any of our volunteers love sewing?” No one piped up or did anything. Then she made eye contact with me.
I’m not a seamstress or anything. So, I wanted to let someone who actually had the skill have the chance to help. However, once it seemed as though they just needed someone (basically anyone) who could help this little girl sew, I felt compelled to say, “sure, I’ll give it a shot!”
And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow.