Today was a day of giving, not taking. I spend enough of my time needing help from others. It is very satisfying when I can return some of the love.
My brokerage was founded on the mission to help people, not only to find homes, but to invest in the future of our community through charitable works. When we sign up to work at Headwaters, we agree to participate in quarterly volunteer projects put on by the brokerage as a whole, and to come up with a yearly project of our own. I still don't know what my annual project will be, but I have ideas. This morning was the first brokerage project. Technically we are a month late for this to be the "first quarter" of the year, but our volunteer coordinator was busy becoming a mother for the first time. I think we can cut her slack on the timeline.
We went up to a daycare center that serves much more than as a place for preschool kids to hang out. They provide care for children from six weeks to five years old, but they also provide programs like a community garden, English as a Second Language classes, and even path to citizenship classes. We deep cleaned the rooms, changed out a dozen or so burned out light bulbs, painted, steam cleaned carpets, and repaired a broken fence. I was in charge of the "otter room" for the first part of the day, until we had done all we could, and then my team broke up and went to wash the windows outside, clean toys in a different room, and rake the playground. By the time we left, I was not the only one who was pleasantly tired from productive labor, but I was one of the few who left the project very damp. I'd been sitting on the wet carpet to wash toys. It made sitting near an often-opened door at lunch rather sporty, as the snowstorm gained momentum.
Our partner in the project was a business that has been by our side for many other such projects in the recent past, Odell Brewery. The people there were (are) fantastic. They really have their heads screwed on straight, from what I can tell. And they tell me the beers are fantastic too. (I wish I could try them. I assume they'll let me know if they ever venture into gluten free varieties.) We hung out at the brewery after the project, and had a terrific lunch with good company.
We even had the opportunity to do good works on the way up to the project. Halfway through Loveland, the man squinted into the rear view mirror on the side, slowed the car, and whipped around in a U-turn. He stopped in the lane, and turned on the flashers. There was a tiny river-dwelling rodent of some sort, dragging itself across a four-lane road. I don't know whether it was a beaver, otter, muskrat, or nutria. The man who carried it thinks it was a muskrat. Whatever it was, it was a baby. It squirmed and kicked while it was carried to safety, but it did not do anything to defend itself. It and my husband both survived with all appendages intact from the encounter.
All in all, it was a very good day.
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