Always Moving Forward

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” —Charles Dickens

Never has a quote been so representative of a mission.

This Saturday over 200 families passed through my home church, hoping to find a warm coat to last them through this year’s harsh winter. I, like many others, volunteered as a guide to lead the grateful families from room to room, which were all filled top to bottom with hundreds of donated coats. Even the neediest people were often so selfless, passing up a free coat for themselves so others could have one. Not only was I moved, but I was also amazed at just how many people were in need. Hamilton County is the wealthiest in the state, and still so many families needed that help. The organization Kids Coats hosted the giveaway, and I’m so glad they did. It was an eye-opening experience and reminded me that I’m on the right track with the Thanksgiving boxes.

Which, by the way, you need an update on.

Thanksgiving Boxes:

After a lot of back-and-forth phone tag with the Good Samaritan Network, I finally got a list of families and some direction. My student groups will be in charge of 3 Thanksgiving meals for Noblesville families; two groups will be made up of National Honor Society and Key Club students (so they can get some service hours in), and Innovations students will make up the third group. Tomorrow in class I’ll be recruiting kids for that group.

I planned on getting some donations from grocery stores, but after some research and talking with some companies, I realized it wasn’t possible with the amount of time we had. Apparently there’s quite a bit of paperwork and processing time when they donate to nonprofit organizations. However, many Noblesville families have been blessed financially, so there won’t be too much problem getting the money together.

So, Saturday is the day! We’ll meet up, shop for all the essential components of a Thanksgiving meal, box it, wrap it up, and spread some holiday love (and probably have some fun with friends while we’re at it).

Here are the updates on my other projects:

Christmas Album:

Eric and I had to postpone the album for just a little while. Our mentor Mr. Jasper is a recording arts/music/guitar teacher, and he was right in the middle of an extremely busy few weeks handling the school musical, Fiddler on the Roof. The show ran this weekend, and it was incredible! But now that it’s over, we’ll be able to start recording hopefully this week or next. The timeline on this project is pretty loose, since it’s mostly just for fun. But don’t worry, I’m sticking to that early December deadline! You’ll have beautiful acoustic holiday music to listen to for most of the month until Christmas. ☺

The New SAT Project:

Mikaela and I met with Mitch and Danny about their amazing cultural exchange project, and we learned that there isn’t too much we can do just yet. They need to make their first successful exchange with a school in Hong Kong before spreading anywhere else. So, this project is sidelined for now.

Edible Cosmetics:

Mikaela Gilbert and I noticed that most synthetic cosmetics contain toxic chemicals that can’t be good for our skin, so we teamed up to create a weekly video series where we create and try out different “recipes” for natural beauty products. We want to inform the public (or at least the well-groomed public) about healthy alternatives to toxic cosmetics. Through this project, we’re also hoping to learn some more about the chemistry of natural products and better video and editing skills.

We’re making our first rough demo video to send to DIY websites and hopefully earn a section on one of their sites. Our first product is a face-mask made with avocado, lemon, honey, sugar, and cinnamon. We filmed the entire thing last week, but something in the filming went wrong, so we have to restart. Luckily, through our little setback, we brainstormed some cool ideas and now we’ve had some more practice.

Likely the best part of our Edible Cosmetics show is that at the end of every video, we taste a little bit of our final product just to show that it’s completely edible, and therefore perfectly safe for your body… It’s gross. But still awesome.

Thanks again to everyone who continually reads my blog! Thanks for all the support, and see ya next week!