Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Christmas Tree Pickup 09 for the Roches

This post is for the Roches who are in South Africa and didn't get to participate in the annual Christmas tree pickup with the youth from our church. Every year, the kids ages 12-18 have fundraiser. Just before Christmas they distribute 5000+ flyers to a pretty nice neighborhood in northeast Seattle letting people know about the pickup. Then they spend one or two Saturdays after Christmas picking up the trees. The church rents a "fleet" of 5 or 6 Handy Andy trucks and the kids are driven around the neighborhoods and pick up the trees.
The kids love it because they get to ride around in the back of the trucks and have a ball together. It's a win/win situation because the trees are brought back to a local park and the grown up toss them into a chipper and the trees become mulch which the parks department uses around the city. They have done it for 11 years I think rain or shine. It is generally cold every year so there is chili, hot chocolate and other treats to keep them going. I can only remember one year where it absolutely poured but the kids still hung in there and had a great time. You can see that the kids totally love this project!


































































5 comments:

Lost Woman said...

wow, someone came up with a great idea a while back and it is still paying off.

I'd like to have one of those good ideas one day.

jo said...

Good for you guys..SERIOUSLY! Trying to find a "service project" in which teenagers will COME AND ENJOY and that TRULY is of service...a miracle :) Hope that's a tradition that will keep going on for everyone's sake :)

crazy lady said...

Good times indeed! It's great to see youth involved in something that builds value for work and having fun at the same time. It IS hard to come up with those types of projects. Fun.

The Liddle-Roches said...

Ah, this makes me REALLY miss Seattle...and all those wonderful young women and young men. So fun to see all these pictures! Thanks! Looks like another great turnout. I'm already looking forward to next year...after all, I can't be without a bowl of that scrumptious chilli for one more winter!

s

robin marie said...

thanks for taking such great pictures! well, all except the one i am in sans make-up. yikes!!