Stuck in a Furrow

My manager decided that we needed a break today from the daily grind of opening, sorting, coding, counting, batching, data entering, answering, replying and typing that encompasses our day. So, went went for lunch to Oriental Phoenix and then headed to the Operation Christmas Child shoebox warehouse to sort boxes for the afternoon. It was a lot of fun! We were late for the orientation but it is a lot of common sense. We headed to the Pre-inspection area, which is where all the boxes are given a once-over to ensure that the donations are removed from the boxes and no money is sent. They then get moved to another area of the warehouse where around 50 more volunteers are opening up each individual box, removing the contents, taking out all the stuff that can't be shipped (food items, gels, liquids, toy guns, glow sticks etc). This year, we had to inspect each tube of toothpaste for an expiration date. Apparently customs can get quite sticky if the due date is within 6 months. So each tube was inspected. Then all the stuff is reloaded into the box and taped shut. It gets loaded into boxes according to gender and age of the box recipient, then loaded onto pallets and then finally will be shipped in big cargo crates. After the box is taped by the volunteers, the next person to open that box will be a little boy or girl in another country. THat was a very fun thought as we rummaged through the boxes. There were a lot of great boxes, loaded to the brim with toys and candies and toiletries. We also got some duds, with a roll of toilet paper, 1 pair of tube socks and a notepad. Those boxes that need a little more loving head to the shoebox hospital where they are added to. McDonald's as well as other coroprate sponsors donate a plethora of toys and fun things to fill the boxes up so no child feels like they got a crappy deal. I have never seen so many happy meal toys in one place.

When our shift was over at 4, there had been about 9200 boxes that had been sorted through, I believe for the day so far. The 2 night shifts would probably match that. In total, just under 400,000 boxes have been processed in our 3 Canadian warehouses. It has been predicted that we will hit about 800,000 boxes to go overseas, about 50,000 more than last year.

That is a whole lotta shoe boxes. I have my 2 sitting on my living room floor. I have a plan to give them to some of our staff members who are going on the shoebox distribution trips to Nicaragua and El Salvador and get them to deliver it.