for a good cause

the company i work for is big into volunteering. (which explains why it took me so damn long to get paid last fall....) anyway, last week the little group i work with volunteered en masse at the Yorkville Common Pantry. it was really one of the best work days i've had in months. 

i volunteered at the YCP one time years ago, through New York Cares, so i knew what to expect. back then i'd spent the day packing groceries for those in need. last week i was part of what we deemed the bagel brigade. our responsibilities included packing bagels according to flavor into plastic bags, and slicing yet more bagels in half and slapping them with peanut butter and jelly. (when the project started, we were all craving bagels like crazy; by the end, we never wanted to look at bagels again.)

anyway, it was nice to be out of the office, to be doing something meaningful, something that actually might make a difference to someone. less nice? having to wear a hairnet and a plastic apron for four hours. 

future lunchlady? 

but it's cool—it was for a good cause. and after our project was finished, we got to un-hairnet ourselves and walk 20 blocks down Fifth Avenue on a warm, sunny afternoon (the longest i've been outside during a work day since i started!) to the place where we had lunch on the company. 

it was a really good day. for many reasons—some selfish, some magnanimous—i wish we had days like that every week. 

mb