We sat around the table at our staff meeting. We were about to begin a campaign to collect the needed items for LWR health kits and decided we needed a goal. We all thought silently for a minute. One person said 50. Another said 500. I was thinking 100. Someone else suggested 200. We were all over the board and finally decided 250 would be our goal. Perhaps a little high but that’s where we would aim.
That meant 250 hand towels, 250 nail files, 250 washcloths, 250 combs … you get the point. Lots of donations, boxes, and bags were dropped off throughout the next few weeks. It was announced on the radio. Pastor Lori collected at her country parishes. We were determined to meet our goal. This is what our collection looked like when I left for home at the end of January:
Upon my return a week later, I was completely and wonderfully overwhelmed with all of the donations that had come in. We decided we should probably have a count or at least a rough estimate of what we had and what we still needed. Perfect job for my third graders – they were excellent counters. Look at those bars of soap in piles of ten!
Even after we counted, donations continued to be put outside the office door and dropped off at Grace. We set up fellowship hall for optimum assembly line production and prepared for the chaos of sunday school kids, confirmands, and coffee drinkers in the midst of health kit packing frenzy. It pretty much was pure chaos with a small bit of organization mixed in but the result was utterly impressive. We have boxes and boxes of health kits, wrapped together with rubber bands, ready to be dedicated and taken to the St.Paul warehouse.
Total count: I’ll let you know once I’ve counted. (Estimating 281.)
there's no place like gnome. 
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