Summer of Service: Festival of Trees

A few Thanksgiving breaks ago I started volunteering at my local Festival of Trees. It was a good way to spend some time in my week-long Thanksgiving break while having fun and getting a few hours to go toward my sorority's philanthropy requirement. The Festival of Trees is a huge annual fundraiser that benefits the Quad City Arts. This week-long event raises enough money to provide arts programs and service to six counties. (My connection to the Festival of Trees started when I danced for the first time ever there on their main stage when I was six years old. I wore a Christmas-y dress and we danced with our teddy bears! I continued to attend the festival each year with my family and I danced on the main stage most years until I was in high school. I also made a few gingerbread houses for the gingerbread village when I was younger.)
Since I've volunteered for three years in a row now, I've done all of the jobs that they have for volunteers: North Pole (Kid's Area), Snack Shop, Raffle Ticket Sales, and the entry table. This year, I was back in the North Pole. I worked the "Tinsel Times" where I created newspapers with the kids names on them and supervised as they wrote letters to Santa. It was a bit slow while I was there, but it was still fun! I learned of a bunch of toys that kids are currently in to. The most popular wish was a puppy though!

I enjoy volunteering at the festival because of the fun atmosphere (and they treat the volunteers pretty well with snacks and a free ticket to the festival)! None of the tasks are very hard, but the three hour shifts are a good length and you get to see/meet a lot of people! Last year, I even learned how to make popcorn in a big popper - that knowledge actually became useful to me when my Sunday School class watched a movie and I made popcorn (A few of my classmates told me that it was the best popcorn they had EVER had! - that means a lot from a 3rd grader). I hope to volunteer again with the festival next year!

The pictures below are not from this year (nor are they of my volunteering)...