Last week I had the chance to fulfill one of the “things I want to do this year” by volunteering for the Kids Against Hunger drive. Kids Against Hunger has several of these a year, but this particular one went to benefit children in Haiti. I had an absolute blast doing it and hope I can offer up my services again sometime soon. (Incidentally, if you’re interested in donating to Haiti Relief, I’ve got some ideas for you in an article I did recently for Suite.)

They really had quite a system going, there. I’ve never seen a volunteer site like that so darn organized. Everyone I worked with commented on how well things were run, and we suspected there must be a lot of moms involved in the process! (Cuz you know, moms do everything.)

The thing that was interesting to me was that you paid to volunteer, and there was a good reason for it. They asked everyone to bring $25 along. Then, you were placed at tables of eight where you did various jobs: scooping soy, rice, veggies, or vitamins, holding the bags of food, weighing, sealing, and placing in boxes. (I was the soy scooper.) The entire table was asked to fill up eight boxes with thirty-two packages of food each. That meant that for our time (about an hour and a half), each of us essentially covered the cost of the food and mailing costs, and took care of the preparation. It was brilliant! I applaud that group and hope people give them their support. They do such a great job.