The Great Easter Basket Adventure!

It started simply enough..........Last October our women's meeting at church was all about planning the calendar for 2009. Everyone volunteers until the calendar is filled. I said I would do a program for April on Easter traditions and then said "and then let's all bring an empty Easter basket and fill them for donation to the Foodshelf". Good plan!! I thought we might end up with a little more than a dozen baskets because there are only about a dozen who regularly attend the meetings. I had lots of eggs and grass on hand and thought I would buy candy and some little toys for the baskets.
Fast forward to just three weeks ago, when Carmen our Guild president said "I think I'll mention it to the congregation" and so she did. The next Sunday, several people brought empty Easter baskets to church and then someone handed me a $10 check and another person handed me an envelope with $10 cash and both intended for candy and gifts for the baskets. An hour after church that day, Carmen called to say someone had made an anonymous donation of $50 to go toward the Easter Basket project!! Oh, my word! Wow, and we hadn't even had our Guild meeting yet!!
So come Thursday, April 2nd, we held our meeting and attendance was 20 that day and here's what everyone brought.............eggs, candy, grass, toys, and a whole laundry basket filled with yo-yos, card games, and more that were donated from a company that is no longer in business. It was too much stuff to fill the 27 baskets that were donated at the church so I took them home to my dining room table. That night, I walked around and around my table evenly distributing the candy and treats among the baskets. The next day, I went shopping and got 17 more baskets, more candy, grass and eggs and added them to the pile on my table. More walking around and around the table (I actually got dizzy) evenly distributing the goodies. And here's what we ended up with............ 44 filled Easter baskets that I delivered to our county Foodshelf last Saturday morning! They were very much appreciated!

Two views, one from each end of the table. I filled each egg with chocolates and each basket got at least two toys, plus bubbles, and candy, some stickers and all the goodies kids enjoy finding in an Easter basket!! :-)

On Palm Sunday, I made an announcement and thanks for everyone's generosity and let the little ones know that we were only assisting the Easter Bunny here, not taking his job away or anything! LOL! We are going to do this again next year and need to put together five times as many baskets to reach the children in need in our county but we can do it. The Easter basket is not the reason for Easter but to a child receiving that basket is a special rite of spring. Giving a child a smile is a real joy..........which reminds me, when Sister Ann at the Foodshelf wrote in the receipt book the weight of the baskets, she noted "59 lbs. of Easter Joy!!" And the bonus in that is that all items are weighed and logged in because there is some kind of matching funds program. This whole adventure was a great deal of fun and we all remembered the joy of getting that Easter basket, dressing up on cold spring mornings, and then off to church for Easter service. So, if you celebrate Easter, may this weekend be one of real joy with friends and family and many blessings!!

Sandi