Extensive menus and expensive movies

Yesterday, I volunteered at the Greater Boston Food Bank. No, I'm not looking for a pat on the back to say, "Look what a good girl are you." ( I already know that, thanks very much :) It was a fantastic experince I thought worth sharing.

We were approximately 30-50 volunteers from various organizations along with individuals who spent three hours in a cold cement warehouse sorting what I'm told was a little over 13,000 pounds of food. That's the equivalent of 10,000 odd meals with an average of 150+ pounds of food sorted per volunteer. Don't ask for an explanation of the math, these are the figures as I heard them.

The cold warehouse was not as miserable as it sounds. In fact, it was a lot like the movies, complete with conveyor belt, giant forklifts and orders being screamed across the room. On a cold winter day in snowy, icy northeast United States, I'll take the liberty of saying that it would have been impossible to find a happier bunch of people spending their Saturday afternoon in a grey building.

During the time, volunteers were allowed a 15-minute break where we were offered some of the delicious packaged food that we had seen while sorting. Total highlight.

It was a weekend spent like none other and a fabulous experience at that.

Upcoming events: The 81st Annual Academy Awards on February 22nd. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire are leading the nominations while The Dark Knight is trailing at a distance. Who will take home the gold statuettes this year? For now, your guess is as good as mine.