Service at the FCC

This evening, Kent, Brandt, and I had the opportunity to go serve dinner at the Food and Care Coalition.  It was wonderful!  I think probably 90ish people were fed, and we were there with friends from our ward--the Torontos, Kay and Ramona Stice, the Maglebys, and Daniel Jensen.  Brandt was assigned to put a roll and a piece of barbecue chicken on each tray.  I ladled creamy chicken soup into bowls and added them to the tray, then passed them along for salad, fruit, and dessert addition.  Kent spent our time there doing dishes.  He got to use the powerful sprayer and the fast washer that cleans, sanitizes, and dries all at one go.  Brandt and I mopped when everyone was cleared out.  We all liked it and said we needed to go again, next time when Blythe could join us.  She had a soccer game and needed to support her team, so she wasn't with us.  But we'll do it again!

Canyon Cleanup

Brandt has nearly completed both his Second and First Class Scout rankings, but he needed two more service hours in order to finish First Class.  Early in the week I looked on JustServe.org to see what kid-friendly service projects were available in the area, and found a Friends of Provo Canyon Community Cleanup scheduled for today.  I figured we could pick up trash along the trail, it would be a beautiful morning, and they promised donuts and a free t-shirt, so it was just the ticket.  Brandt agreed and was keen to attend.  Blythe wasn't.  She said she wasn't going, but came in the end.  Grandma Sue joined us, too, and we went to clean.

Grandma Sue said we would likely be cleaning up homeless person sites, and sure enough, we were given detailed instructions of what to do should be find "fecal matter" or anything "sharp" like needles.  Sigh.  While we did find fecal matter (likely animal), we found nothing sharp.  Lots of bottles tucked away in the shrubbery, and a partially smoked cigar, but nothing terribly gross.  The trail was in pretty good shape, considering how much use it gets.

While it felt good to be picking up trash along the trail, the second part of the project was much more satisfying.  The Utah County Fire Department was using chainsaws to cut back brush and dead trees, and we volunteers got to haul the limbs to a wood chipper.  It's so satisfying to see a pile of shrubbery reduced to fine plant matter.  We could all pull branches and see the wood almost magically disappear, and that was great.  We spent about an hour at both parts and came away hot but satisfied with our service.

And Brandt needs only have a board of review, and then he's finished and can receive his advancements at a court of honor next week.  Yahoo!

Blythe looks thrilled, doesn't she?

Blythe complained of complete exhaustion until we passed the sprinklers.

Then, miraculously, her energy returned and she was able to move freely again.

She is a blithe spirit!

Brandt chose to only put his shoe clad toes in the water.

The wood chipper was big enough that they fed that whole tree Kent is hauling

right into the hopper, and it ground it up.

Amazing machine and more amazing man hauling huge dead tree!