We went to volunteer with the Emergency Family Assistance Holiday giveaway. I thought we would be handing out food but we got there and found the Share-a-Gift program in progress. In the past, I took my (then) young boys to the Share-a-Gift warehouses to sort toys beforehand but never went to the giveaway day when people came in to get toys. I was surprised to find myself not really wanting to assist 'shoppers' at first so I just dove in with a lady who didn't speak English. The first couple of shoppers were fine but as the big piles of toys and stuffed animals diminished, the last few rounds were sort of depressing. The good news is that they all left with new toys for the kids at the end of the tour. Note: at toy giveaways, show up first because they run through the batch for that shift - then once everyone is gone, they replenish for the next shift. So the last shoppers of the first day had less to choose from than the first shoppers of the second day.

::Sigh::

All this wealth and still, people are struggling to provide the simple things for their kids. I took leftovers from last Valentine's Day sales to San Juan del Centro. They were so pleased and said that some kids didn't give Valentines because their parents couldn't afford to buy the packages. Yes, I know there is the homemade option, but I guess that doesn't fly these days. Even if just the leftovers were redistributed in some orderly fashion, people could have things that they don't have now.