Assisting the Easter Bunny!

Last year I volunteered to do a little Easter basket project at our church - St. Paul's UCC - that would be donated to our local Foodshelf. It went so well, that I said I would do it again this year. To read about last year's adventure, you can go here.
As I've mentioned a couple of times recently........while the Good Eggs Giveaway and the "hop down the bunny trail" was going on, I was assisting the Easter Bunny. That's right, just assisting. He does exist so I don't want any children out there to think I'm trying to take his place. I'm just helping out a bit along with a whole lot of folks from my church. This project is so simple but is so appreciated by the staff at the Food Shelf and those that receive the baskets. It starts simply enough...........

Congregation members brought baskets and goodies and treats and toys................and so last Wednesday afternoon, I started to assemble it all into filled baskets. I set out all the baskets that were collected........thirty-eight of them!!

And then there were some Easter themed paper gift bags - eighteen of them!

And then I laid out all the goodies, treats and toys..................and began to consider what would go in each basket or bag.

Everything always seems to come out just right when I do some of these projects. There were several bags of Easter grass donated and it was exactly the right amount for all the baskets.

There was a toy or gift item for each basket and full bags of jelly beans or big chocolate bunnies for each basket. And there were oodles of little Snickers bars and Skittles and stuff so every basket and bag got several of those. And then there were the eggs...............

lots and lots of eggs, so I sat down and started filling the eggs with little chocolate bunnies and Hershey's chocolate eggs. Every basket and bag got 4 to 5 candy filled eggs! Everything worked out so evenly!

And here are the baskets all filled and ready to be bagged and delivered. I was tired at this point so I decided to come back on Friday to put each basket in a separate bag.

I have to be honest and tell you that I really wanted this little pink lamb. I thought it was just as cute as could be and since I am momma shepherd to my Wooly Buddies group, it would have been fun to take this little sweetie home with me. I did not do that.................

If you look at the back of this photo, you can see the little sweetie and she is on her way with all the other baskets to be delivered to the Food Shelf in nearby Gaylord, MN. Just like last year, the staff was thrilled to receive the baskets. Food Shelf use is up significantly and items such as these are a bonus and perhaps a luxury.........but to a child on Easter morning they are a necessity. The candy-filled baskets and bags will bring a smile to many a child!

Now, all I did was assemble the baskets, but it brought me much joy to do this. I didn't do it alone because even though our church is small, so many shared so much and soon it was a great big thing!! When I loaded all those baskets and bags in my car, they filled the entire trunk area of my car and part of the back seat!! The abundance of the project, reminded me of an old Swedish saying that goes something like this, “Joy shared is Joy doubled”. Definitely!!! We enjoyed sharing and plan to do this again next year. Thanks to this project, I now feel that I have earned the title "Certified Easter Bunny Assistant" or CEBA for short. ;-) You can, too, just by copying this idea. This is one time when nobody is going to mind if you do a little copying.
Oh, and one more basket related item..........The basket in this photo is actually a large wicker basket from a baby bassinett. It was one my mother bought at auction, gave to my daughter, who then passed it to me because I can never throw anything away. LOL! There is always a use for everything.

SO, when Pastor Brigit called in early March and asked if I had a large basket that she could use at church for March FoodShare month, I answered "Oh, yes, I have a really big basket!" This is just some of the food that was collected but all totaled the basket held 72 pounds of donated items that also went to the Food Shelf with the Easter baskets. They weighed 50 pounds thanks to all that chocolate! All food is weighed as it comes in and entered in a log book. You get a receipt and a thank you before you walk out the door!

This post has nothing to do with quilting or stitching but it has everything to do with well-being. I enjoy volunteering and if I couldn't share then the quilting and stitching would have no meaning.

In between assisting the Easter Bunny, I was also doing some library quilt program events so maybe I'll get to that in my next post. Never a boring moment but that's all for now.

Sandi

P.S. And when I get through with all the Easter events, I'm going to tell you all about my machine quilting experience at Heidi's retreat. It was "sew" cool! More on that right after Easter. :-)