After an October of 11 housing events, the ShareFest-Texas team took a weekend off only to receive eight new move requests this past week. To compensate, the team organized a “triple” by moving three families (9 children) into their new homes this past Saturday,November 12. Each could be easily considered an Oscar-level performance by the moms, their children and the SFT Team (of 8). By looking at the resulting “home” pictures below, it’s clearly understandable why there were some serious “lump-in-throat” moments amidst a chorus of children laughing. Our volunteers played with the kids during assembly of items for safety reasons. For the day, we traveled 50 miles from far northwest Tarrant county back to Arlington with the same focus, light and spirit that carried over into the recipients leaving us mission-energized. One SFT leader reworked a toddler bed and took it back to our first stop in order to “right-size” for a tiny one even. Re-grouping at the end of the day, although a bit weary, a sense of real accomplishment, while always present, seemed to bring on a more significant burst of pride where we’d not just met and but beat the challenge.
Our goal now is to do moves during the week in order to get as many families situated in time for Christmas.
If anyone would be interested in participating with us, please reach out to me or Penny at pfinkenstadt@gmail.com as soon as possible. In addition, do so if you have furniture or household goods on our list to donate.