The Choice Was Mine

Saturday, March 3rd, was full. It was going to take 24 hours of my life no matter how I used those fleeting hours.

With the end of the month two days prior my budget was at its usual low ebb. There’s money in the bank to cover the rent…if nothing hits before it posts on Monday because of the auto pay feature.

Driving was slow last week so the phone call asking me if I wanted to drive to Memphis on Saturday should have been a stronger temptation for me than it was. It would have meant over $400 on next week’s paycheck.

I suppose I could have taken the day off to relax, but with cold wet weather I couldn’t have enjoyed much of the things I usually want to do on an off day.

Instead I went to church on Saturday. Yeah, I actually got to wear something extra special on my head the whole time I was there…a hairnet.

I suppose I need to explain why I needed to wear such a weird item on my noggin.

This weekend was the annual Feed My Starving Children Big Pack Frisco event at Stonebriar Community Church.

FMSC is a Christian organization that puts special packs together with vitamins and rice and soy powder to send to third world countries to keep kids alive.

According to the video they show before each pack 6,200 children around the world die of hunger related issues every single day.

They hold events such as the one we had at several venues around the country. The goal for our big pack was over one million meals. That’s enough to feed over 2,800 kids three meals a day for an entire year.

The great news is we did it again. The last number I saw was over 1,028,000.

There were folks from all over the area, not just Stonebriar peeps. Businesses send groups to this event. So do other churches and schools.

There were little kids and old folks working side by side scooping, sealing and packing to feed kids we’ll never meet.

My job was the same as last year. I was involved in the final step in the entire process. I got to wrap and strap the full pallets after the food was stuffed into the bags and the bags were stuffed into boxes.

I didn’t make any money during the day but the reward is priceless.

Actually, I did receive some money during the event. The Apainter Paul came in with a group from his church. He paid me for the work I did with him on Friday, but that doesn’t count.

Members from FMSC thanked me several times throughout the day. They work crazy schedules and need to love what they do to keep at it. Volunteer events like we hold are the life blood of their organization.

Friday’s paycheck will be smaller than it could have been, but I don’t care.

I have food to eat and a roof over my head. Now a couple thousand kids will have their bellies full, too, because of my choice of how I spent my Saturday.

I’ll see you later. Wade