Pi Girl

I’m still trying to get more information about this, so stay tuned, but I wanted to get the word out so you can clear your calendar and join me.

The USBC Bowling Association is holding a Bowl for the Cure event at Paramount Lanes on Sunday, January 7. Registration starts at noon, bowling starts at 1:30.  $12 gets you 3 games, all money raised will go to the Elmira affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Who’s in?

This morning, I was up at 4:30 AM. Not because I’m still a kid at heart and wanted to see if Santa had come yet. No, this time I woke up so I could be Santa.

I delivered presents for the Arctic League. I wrote earlier that I had packed presents for them. The Arctic League collects money and asks groups to help pack gifts. The gifts go to families who can’t give their children Christmas. The Arctic League’s mission is that no child in Chemung County go without Christmas. Now, I got to see the organization in motion.

Michelle picked me up at 5, the doors opened at 6. Yes, I stood in the cold for an hour and a half in a line that went all the way around the block and longer. Apparently, some people get there at 3 AM just to be first in line. If you don’t get there early enough, you might not get any presents to deliver.

We got 2 bags, both within a block of each other, which I understand is not the norm. It was very cool to see the people come to the door and be so thankful that they have something to give their kids. And the presents are very nice gifts too.

I took some photos but they didn’t come out so well, and the battery died. Fortunately, Star-Gazette videographer, Jason Whong, came along to shoot video of the festivities.

So my Christmas has been quite untraditional but an enjoyable experience. I just might stay in Elmira again next year just for this. And on that note, I want to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas!

So, I was supposed to ring the bell for an hour last week. You may recall my earlier post telling you to come by and drop your change.

But when I showed up to P&C, there was noone at the station waiting for me and the kettle was nowhere to be found. I called the Salvation Army, but the girl didn’t know anything and wanted me to talk to the coordinator, who never called me back. So, I couldn’t help them out. I put them on my list of people I *had* to call but realized it’s now too late to get a time in to ring the bell. Oops.

Then, in the paper yesterday, I read that the Salvation Army was behind on their kettle drive. They no longer need people to ring the bell, they need people to put donations in the kettle.

So, today while I was Christmas shopping with Desra at the mall, I was at a store near the kettle buying blue raspberry flavored reeds for Jason’s sax. When my change was handed to me, I could hear the bell ringing and thought to myself, “I should put this in the kettle.”

Over at the kettle, the bell ringers were the real Salvation Army guys, all dressed in uniform and looking so polished. So, I dropped in my cash. I know it’s probably a small donation compared to how much they really need. But isn’t that the point of the kettle donation? If we all give a little, our families in need will get a lot.

The Star-Gazette decided to adopt a family for Christmas this year.  Everyone who signed up to participate was given a family member and told their name, gender and age.

We had a family of 6: Mom and 5 kids.  I got the 5 year old boy.  What was nice is we had more participants to buy gifts than family members, so some people were assigned to buy a “family” gift.

So, I went to Target to find an appropriate toy for a 5 year old boy who also has a 3 year old brother who might try to get into said toy.

I opted for a remote control dinosaur that roars and his eyes light up.  While I was testing the roaring ability of the dinosaur in the store, a kid and his father passed me by.  The kid took one look at the dinosaur and told his dad, “I want that toy!!”  That’s when I knew I had a winner.

I know a lot of organizations and churches adopt families for Christmas and I absolutely love it.  It’s nice to see these companies providing nice Christmases for these families.  Sometimes, the families will even get dinner too.  In the bustle of the holidays, it’s easy to forget that others are not so fortunate to worry about how many ornaments are on the tree or how many inflatable creatures can we stick in our yard.

The companies that organize the adopted families provide stats for every family member and personalize it so you don’t just buy any generic gift just to be nice.  Hopefully, you can take a little time to select something just for them the way you would for anyone else on your Christmas list.

This is my favorite version of the song and it comes with a jazzy little animation that’s fun to watch.

St. Matthew’s rocks. It seems like whenever I need something new to do, they just drop the opportunity right into my lap.

This year, every Sunday this month, they have printed an insert for the bulletin with the names and mailing addresses for the shut-ins from our parish that we pray for every week. In the last 2 years, we’ve been encouraged to write and send cards with those members who care so much about our church and want to be included, even though they can’t leave their homes.

So, I picked up a set of Christmas cards and wrote to each of the shut-ins on the list (10 people). I haven’t actually sent Christmas cards since high school, so it was kind of nice to turn on the Christmas music and write notes to people I don’t actually know (I haven’t attended St Matthew’s long enough to know anyone from the days when they could make it to church).

I have not surveyed anyone else from church on this project, but I hope many of our parishoners were also inspired to send cards too because the info is right there and available.

I also learned a valuable lesson today. Don’t go to the post office on your lunch hour the week before Christmas.

And now, for a dose of reality, might I recommend the Brutally Honest Personality Test?

In case you didn’t know and don’t watch enough NYC cop shows, Elmira is known for its prison. Most of Chemung County is employed there, it seems.

Anyway, around here, organizations cater to the prison crowd. For example, a priest started a chapter of Kairos, which is like Cursillo or Happening for the inmates. During the weekend, the kids at St Matthew’s decorate placemats and pray for the inmates.

The other ministry we take part in is taking care of the families who come to visit the inmates. These families often travel long hours by bus and are held in a separate building for hours waiting to see their loved one. The kids get pretty cranky so St Matthew’s sends over new books for the kids to keep.
So Jason and I picked up a book to add to the collection. I think it was about a spider. It involved pull-tabs so it looked interactive.

What’s interesting is that St Matthew’s has been collecting books every December since I started attending there. But I’ve never done the book drive, even though I know it’s a good cause. Maybe because I’m not in the habit of buying children’s books. Or I just don’t think of it. And now that I’m doing this project, I’m finding myself much more aware and proactive to do stuff.

Today, I found out what Santa’s workshop looks like before Christmas Eve. I went to the Arctic League to pack presents that will given out on Christmas.

The Arctic League was founded way back in the 1900’s by some group of men who liked to play baseball on Christmas Day every year. Somehow, they figured out that Santa doesn’t visit all of the kids in Elmira. So, they organized themselves into a center that collects money for new presents so that every child can have Christmas. Early Christmas morning, the Arctic League delivers those presents to kids all over Chemung County.

In order to prepare all those presents for delivery, groups can sign up to fill bags of presents. So a delegation from the Star-Gazette joined the First Baptist Church and Raymour & Flanigan to pack presents for the 901 group. An announcer called out how many kids and their age and gender and sent a tote down the line to collect presents for the appropriate age and gender. Then the totes were sent to 1 of 2 stations and the totes were emptied into one bag that was tied and tagged for that family. We bagged 145 bags tonight.

My job was to tie and tag the bags for 1 station. That and make sure I didn’t get run over by kids bringing boxes back and forth. As we heard the numbers in the families coming in, we turned it into a game. “5 kids! We’re gonna need 2 bags for that one.” Our biggest family had 7 kids - all from age 5-12. Someone told me the record last year was 9 kids!

I know you all have lots of grocery shopping to do. Especially those of you living in Elmira, on the southside. All 3 of you who read this blog.

You should go to P&C on Monday, from 8-9 pm and go shopping. Then donate your change to the Salvation Army. You’ll even get to chat with me while you’re there.

If I had the guts, I might try what these ladies are doing. You have to check out this video from the Appleton Post-Crescent about the Silver Foxettes who dance and sing for your change at the kettles.

I’m very behind on my community service. Fortunately, Christmas time provides so many opportunities, hopefully, I’ll be caught up soon.

This week, Amy B told me a story that broke my heart. Her friend was deployed to Iraq and he wrote her to tell her that 6 Marines are in a hospital, wounded and have not seen one package since their deployment started earlier this year.

She decided to organize a drive to collect items for a care package to be sent to those Marines. Her son’s class wrote letters. She took donations from the students at her karate school. I went to Wegmans and picked out some Mad Libs.

I hope those soldiers will see the package before Christmas, although I know that’s very unlikely. In the meantime, there are plenty of soldiers who would like to get correspondence from home. Might I suggest you head on over to Operation Dear Abby where you can fill out a form and send encouragement to our troops in the Middle East.