If I ran the circus!
Yesterday I had a bit of an adventure! I had boxed up all the pieces from my hurricane kit a few days ago, ready to go. Then yesterday morning, I was looking through the Weekend section of the paper (with the cupped hands holding out a ball of red movie tickets on the cover, gotta love things that make fun of "Twilight" LOL!) and there was a tiny thing talking about Metropolitan Ministries in desperate need of donated food for Thanksgiving. All right, let's go! So I drove my happy little butt over to Tampa with the following in my trunk:
Big box of Kix cereal, 4 jars of peanut butter (two big jars, two little ones), 6 pack of mini water bottles, 6 pack of applesauce, tuna fish, cake mix, corn muffin mix, 4 jars of spaghettios, cranberry sauce, two cans of corn, and a few other odds and sods to make 21 items
So we pull up to the St. Pete Times Forum, where the Lightning play. It is PACKED with people coming in and out. Mom sat with the car while I dragged both boxes up to the door by the box office. Not only were the MM people there, but there were some circus people who were volunteering. Ringling Bros, Barnum & Bailey circuses had joined up with MM, offering one free ticket to their Tampa performance in January with every 10 items donated. I had 21, so they gave me two vouchers for 2 tickets. I toddled my way into the box office and lo and behold, I got to pick my seats. Now, not only were these NOT cheapie seats, these were the best available seats for the show that I picked! Those are tickets worth $85 apiece!!!! Well more than what the cost of that food that's been sitting in my pantry for a few months. Now, granted, I did not donate just to get the circus tickets. I literally have not been to a circus since I was 8 years old. I donated because, despite the fact that MM is a church-based initiative, they do help a LOT of people and there are so many people who need help this year, more than ever! It was amazing to see people opening up their trunks, dragging in boxes of food, with their kids, etc. Maybe some of them were there to get the free tickets, maybe their hearts weren't wholly altruistic, but I was really moved by the barrels and barrels and barrels of food that this offer brought out. So, I get a night out and someone doesn't go hungry this year. Yay team!
Big box of Kix cereal, 4 jars of peanut butter (two big jars, two little ones), 6 pack of mini water bottles, 6 pack of applesauce, tuna fish, cake mix, corn muffin mix, 4 jars of spaghettios, cranberry sauce, two cans of corn, and a few other odds and sods to make 21 items
So we pull up to the St. Pete Times Forum, where the Lightning play. It is PACKED with people coming in and out. Mom sat with the car while I dragged both boxes up to the door by the box office. Not only were the MM people there, but there were some circus people who were volunteering. Ringling Bros, Barnum & Bailey circuses had joined up with MM, offering one free ticket to their Tampa performance in January with every 10 items donated. I had 21, so they gave me two vouchers for 2 tickets. I toddled my way into the box office and lo and behold, I got to pick my seats. Now, not only were these NOT cheapie seats, these were the best available seats for the show that I picked! Those are tickets worth $85 apiece!!!! Well more than what the cost of that food that's been sitting in my pantry for a few months. Now, granted, I did not donate just to get the circus tickets. I literally have not been to a circus since I was 8 years old. I donated because, despite the fact that MM is a church-based initiative, they do help a LOT of people and there are so many people who need help this year, more than ever! It was amazing to see people opening up their trunks, dragging in boxes of food, with their kids, etc. Maybe some of them were there to get the free tickets, maybe their hearts weren't wholly altruistic, but I was really moved by the barrels and barrels and barrels of food that this offer brought out. So, I get a night out and someone doesn't go hungry this year. Yay team!