On Saturday December 17, 2016 I had an incredible experience helping with an event called the Day of Dreams at the Sanctuary Church of God in East Canton, Ohio. I had attended this event in the past to help my friend out, but I had never attended the event from start to finish until this year.
I had a chance to fully participate from start to finish this year. We arrived at the church at 7:00am to start setting up for the day. Everyone met in the sanctuary and the pastor started discussing the background information of the event and what the Day of Dreams was all about. On where they started 12 years ago with the goal of 40 families to this year serving 375 families with over $19,000 of donations and merchandise, which is AMAZING.
After learning the background information, we were guided on what to do next. Our first process of the day was to unload the semi-truck which had all the donated food in it. Once the truck was unloaded, we packed up the food in groups of 4-5 people following lists on the wall on what to put in each bag and the box. Each family was receiving 4 grocery bags and a box of food. The packing did not take long and soon after the sanctuary was full of loaded bags of food for the families. I personally really enjoyed this part of the day because you got to talk to different members of the church and get to know people as well as packing the groceries bags.
Soon after packing, everyone went to their designated spots for the day. Some of the different spots where the registration table, parking, a winter apparel spot which had donated winter coats, hats, and gloves for the families, blanket spot, dentist and physician check-ups, plus free haircuts by professional hairstylists. Then there were also people who carried all the groceries out to the families’ cars for them. I personally just wrote down names of people waiting in line for a haircut and helped swept up hair after the haircuts. Even though this was such a small task, I loved seeing the look on families faces when you told them the haircuts were free. They were so surprised but also at the same time so blessed.
What this church family does for these families is an INCREDIBLE thing. Even though I am not a member of the church myself, they treated me as I was, just like they had treated every other family who walked through the church doors that day. Even though I played such a small role in this event, I was beyond grateful to participate. This event really opened my eyes to how great God can be and how much as simple haircut we can take for granted sometimes. I loved seeing the reactions on people’s faces and how happy just a small gesture can make them all throughout the day. We gave out homemade bows to little girls who got their haircut to put in their hair and something so small made someone so happy. This gave me such a good feeling and really made me realize how grateful I am for the things I have and how much I can take for granted. I am so glad I had this opportunity to help out people in need in the season of giving and I hope I can help out with this event more in upcoming years.
