On Tuesday, we spent the afternoon helping the women of Florence Crittenton clean and organize their house. We happened to come at a time when the house was undergoing a lot of renovations; there were painters and workers coming in and out of the house and many of the rooms had piles of baby supplies in need of sorting, so it seemed like our assistance was greatly appreciated. The fourteen of us were separated into groups to clean three different areas of the house - upstairs, the living area, and the sheds in the backyard. Emily, Jessica, Annelise, and I cleared out the sheds.

It was amazing to see how many different and complex things baby needed. The sheds were stuffed with cribs, various types of strollers, car seats, special diaper trash cans, changing stations, and a few things that I just couldn't identify (plus two lizards!). Even though I have been around babies in my family all my life, I never really stopped to think of all the different things that they needed, much less the cost of it all.

Lisa, the coordinator of the shelter, told us to put a majority of the stuff on the curb, even though they were still in usable condition because car seats and strollers can't be donated. The fact that she couldn't directly donate those things didn't mean that they went to waste, though. While taking things out to the front I saw that a man had stopped by and loaded his pickup truck with strollers and car seats. Had she specifically instructed us to put those things in the dumpster, that wouldn't have have happened; I like to think of that as her way of secretly donating them to the community.

By the time we had finished clearing out the sheds and throwing out all the stuff that had to be tossed, you wouldn't have even recognized them. It was an extremely satisfying sight to see; I honestly wish we had taken before and after pictures of the sheds. Even though we didn't work with the women and children that lived in the house, I still knew that what we did helped them in a very direct way. Now they have room to store old things in the sheds and fill their newly cleaned living room!!