Volunteering is good for the soul!

 In case you didn't know October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month so I wanted to talk a little bit about volunteering.  Let me tell you there is nothing more gratifying than volunteering in your community in one way or another!!! Whether it be a walk for breast cancer or helping out at a local food bank I would suggest everyone do their job in helping!! If we all volunteered with some organization at least twice a month our communities would be much better places to live! So I am going to show you some of the ways I have volunteered and plan to volunteer in the future!

Kelly and I showing off our new shirts

 Last year I helped a friend of mine who has a facebook page called Hunter's For The Cure:)  Kelly helps to raise money  for men or women that are struggling with Breast Cancer or any kind of Cancer for that matter. When I met Kelly she was helping another organization that I will not name (didn't go well!) sell some tshirts for Breast Cancer Research. The Shirts were a big hit!! Kelly not only runs her page but is also a very active member in the Oklahoma Youth Hunting Program and Archery Encounters . These  organizations take kids who have never been hunting or can't afford to go hunting out and teaches them how to hunt, takes them to get their hunters safety, and actually takes them out on their first hunt!! How exciting is that!!! Last year they were trying to earn money to help pay for the safety course for all the kids so we set up a table at Bass Pro Shop and offered free gift wrapping and accepted donations:) That was really fun!! I learned how to wrap fast like a pro!!! Kelly is a BIG inspiration to me and is the reason I started volunteering to begin with!! I strive to help out as much as she does!

We are manning the finish line water station

The adults are off

  More recently I volunteered for an organization called It's A Child's Life. This organization is based in my community and what they do is help raise extra money for people who are in the process of adoption either locally or internationally. Adoption is a long and expensive process and I had to help. They had 7 families that needed some help with their adoption process so they organized a mud run called Orphan Love Mud Run which was a 5k run with obstacles.  I couldn't afford to pay to do the mud run and they were asking for volunteers so I volunteered!! Got out there at 6am and helped set up tents and put tables out! I was stationed along with 2 other girls at the finish line water table where we handed out water and bracelets to all the runners!! One of the perks of volunteering is that after the main race was over the volunteers got their chance to run the track!! I had been excited but nervous all week cause as you already know I am not in the best shape in the world and I am still a bit overweight BUT I have been loosing weight and walking at least 3 miles a day 2-3 days a week. But I still almost talked myself out of the run which where working at the finish line comes into play!! As we were handing out the water to all the runners I got to looking and the people that were crossing that finish line were just regular normal people! Some were way older than me like in their 50's and some were as big if not bigger than me and they were finishing the trail! So at that moment I knew that I could not NOT do it! I had to run it and FINISH IT!!! Long story short I did finish it in an hour and 10 minutes  BUT I FINISHED IT!!! I was so proud of myself!! There were 2 different spots along the trail where you could stop if you didn't want to finish it but I didn't take those routes I finished it the long way!!! I had a BLAST!!!

The finish line

Me going down the slide part of the run

Me at the last obstacle! 

The class doing the Pledge 

  Another area where I volunteer is with my son's Headstart class. He is in the 3 year old program and they need all the help they can get!! In the past I would always go and help out when on field trips and such but this year I am actually getting to help out in the classroom! I get to help with arts and crafts, help out with testing, or just helping keep an eye on the kiddos! This is such a critical time for my son because he gets to see how I am helping out with his class and learning that its not ALL ABOUT HIM all the time and that sometimes Momma does things for others and that is a good thing! I have also filled out an application to be a substitute out at the headstart so maybe I can earn some extra money in the process:) Haven't heard anything on that one yet they are still waiting on my OSBI check to come back. But Hopefully that will come in soon!

Red, white and blue hand prints 

Headstart at the Pontotoc County Fair

  Next week I am volunteering for the Pontotoc County Conservation District for their Annual Outdoor Classroom.  A friend of mine told me about this and that she volunteered with this program last year but she couldn't this year because she works for the FDA office in Ada Oklahoma. Thank you Laura for letting me know about this one!!  There will be representatives from all the areas of conservation such as The Oklahoma Forestry Service, The Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation, the Chickasaw Nation, and the Natural Resource Conservation Service. They will deliver educational presentations designed to encourage youth to participate in community conservation efforts. I will be there to help lead classes to each presentation. This is my first year doing this and it sounds like a lot of fun! I will later blog about this and have pics to post on how it went! I have also learned that 1 of my kids classes will be going to this not sure if my other 3 will be going but now they will all get to see me volunteering outside of the classroom as well!!

   I highly recommend that everyone volunteer in some way in their community!! Not only does it make you feel better as a person but if you have kids it will help them learn that volunteering isn't a bad thing! I hope to do much more volunteering in the future and I think I am off to a pretty good start!!!