Operation We've-gotta-get-all-this-stuff-out-of-bags.....

We woke up bright and early... Hmm.. It was early and the sun was bright. We were not bright at all - but we were awake enough to meet up and head to U-haul to pick up the rental truck. Even with an excruciating wait for the truck, Mom and I were surprised to make it to Ocean Springs by 9:15 am. After a cup of coffee at headquarters - volunteers started arriving.. Ken & Brenda came bearing diapers for a young lady whom we had met yesterday (who, incidentally, was going into the hospital today to have her first baby). Renee arrived with several people in the hopes that they would be able to find some of the items they needed most while we were in the process of loading bags into the truck.

Everything after that was something of a blur of boxes and bags. By 11:15am we were on the road again and headed back to Pascagoula. We had successfully removed enough of the unsorted donations from their previous storage area and made enough room to be able to actually get to the better sorted donations. Ken & Brenda followed us home to help us unload (thank you!!!!)... but let us know they had promised some help to a family in Waveland and would have to get going (all the way to the other side of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, no less) as soon as we finished. I was so impressed with everything they have done - everything they were planning to do... Without people like Ken & Brenda -- where would we be? In our short time with them I felt even more inspired to keep going... keep trying... and to do more and more to help as many people as I can do the same.

The truck was completely unloaded by 12:30 pm... Which meant, of course, that there was now a large number of enormous black plastic bags stuffed full of.. well.. stuff... sitting in our dining room.

I told you it would fit!!

We took a quick break to eat and then moved on to tackle the bags. The plan was to simply get everything out of those bags. The bags the bags the bags. I mean, think about it... Do you keep your clothes stuffed in the closet in bags? No! (If you answered "yes" to that question I really feel for you.. but please humor me and say 'no' for the sake of my argument...) And there's a reason for that. A reason we have all become all too aware of over the last couple weeks: It is utterly impossible to find anything in those bags.

Mom and I started by scouting for blankets. Blankets, quilts, sheets... anything to cover with that takes up a lot of space and is relatively easy to fold.



We were surprised at just how many blankets were left since we had cleared out an entire room of them on just one distribution day before Christmas. They seem to multiply like lab mice.

Mom went home for a break once we got all of the blankets and so on sorted and folded. There were also two enormous bags of flat white sheets which took up a whole lot less space folded... And we finally got to what was left of the donated t-shirts and found a spot for them. After Mom left, Yvonne helped me with a project near to her heart... and we sifted through the mountain of bags for toys.

(Hmm.. I just noticed that I seem to have missed a Christmas decoration when we were clearing out the dining room very very early this morning....)

After about 30 minutes of trying to explain to the two-year old that the box we had just filled with toys was not, in fact, hers... I came up with a plan for the remaining bags full of clothes which was remarkably similar to all of our previous plans for the day: Just get them out of the bags. So I set about taking it bag by bag and simply folding...

I will never complain about folding laundry again.

It was getting dark outside by the time my back started to hurt - so I grabbed a cup of coffee and went to check my email. Mom sent a message immediately and offered to come back to help. Phew! True to her word, she arrived a few minutes later in slippers and pajamas to tackle the last of the mound with me. She says I was just using the work as an excuse to get her to come back and visit. She may be onto something...

Within an hour - we had something resembling order again.



Gurgle. Tomorrow we attack those stacked piles of clothes and re-sort them into groups for men, women, boys, girls, and infants. Tonight... we regroup.