The Armory was Fun
Jackie

I went to the Armory. It was a lot of fun. We made over 300 boxes of food for people that do not have a lot of money. I felt proud that I helped so many people. I was kind of sad though because I am going to get a lot of presents for Christmas but a lot of other kids all over might only get one or two they might not even get one. I feel like I’m mean cause I get a lot and I can’t share my presents. But I did help them, so I feel proud.

I had to lift boxes and push carts with tons of boxes in them. I hurt from going there, and that proves I worked hard. We had to put all differant kinds of food in the boxes. There were toys that had to get put in differant categories too. People will go and pick a few toys for their kids.

Manistee Armory
Josh B.

I went to the Manistee Armory yesterday. When we got to the pantry, I said "Geez this place is big" ,but when I got inside it was even bigger if my guess is even close it was about the size of a football field in there. When we got in a lady told us to sit down so we all sat down. The lady told us what to do and all. I turned out to be a loader. Loaders ship the full boxes back down to the unloading area. After a while my fingers started hurting from lifting the boxes so I told Mrs. Chris and she moved me.

I was now a box man: these people pull down the boxes for the packers to fill up. It was fun. After a while a man came up and said, "here is a little tip". Then he pulled virtually the bottom box of a stack and tons of boxes fell down. After that we got a big break and I went off to packing flower then everyone got treats then we went back to work I was still boxing and we kind of got to play around. After that it was time to go.

Salvation Army
Mara

I went to the Salvation Army yesterday. It was fun! We had an assembly line. We had food and put it in a box and pushed it to the next person. I had green beans to put in the boxes. I think I put in 400 cans of beans. Mary would put a label on the box. She put a 1-2 label on the box that means that we put 2 cans. Then she put a 3-5 label on the box that means we put 4 cans in the box. It was so much fun! I like helping others and working with my friends.

Making Food Baskets
Artisha

Making the baskets was fun, but hard. I worked with Ashley, Stacy, and Jackie. At first it went slow then we all got the hang of it and it went fast. I had four different jobs. First I worked with the breakfast items. Then at the macaroni and cheese, I helped Kelsey put the baskets on the cart then we drove it around. The boxes were heavy. But it was fun. Nicole and me put medicine in the baskets. I’m glad I got to go.

Armory
Anna

On December 14th some other kids and me went to the Armory. Eighteen kids from fourth grade went and eighteen kids from fifth grade went to the Armory. It was fun. We packed food in boxes for poor people that didn't have enough money to buy food. I put two cans of cranberry sauce in each one of the boxes. At one time I had to put vegetables and cranberry sauce in each box because there weren't enough people. We filled about four hundred boxes with food. It felt really good to know I helped a bunch of poor people. It was really fun.

I Felt Good
Andria

When we were at the Armary I flet good cause I knew I helped lots of poor people who con't have money or food or toys. The lady who invited us there said we helped over 500 people We had so much fun we didn't want to leave. We wanted to keep working. This Christmas will be the best the poor has ever had. I know they will be happy cause we helped them. To some peopl making a difference doesn't matter, but to me making a difference does matter.

Pushing, Pulling, and Stacking
Paige

It was really fun, but a lot of hard work. I liked when we had to put odds and ends cause that was fun. Pushing and pulling the carts. We had to stack the boxes. They were really heavy! Some of the boxes were so heavey we needed two people to lift them.

I was Glad to Help
Chelsea

I was glad I got to go. It was so fun. My favorite part was doing the mackorony and cheese. Sometimes it was hard. It was hard when it started to speed up. I also did things like puting stamps in a box. I had to toss them in the boxes when they were far. I had to also get all the boxes and put them on a pile. It was huge.

Strong Workers Needed
Jim

To be in the Armory we had to be strong to lift the boxes off the long cart. We had to be tall to reach the boxes. One guy taught us a trick. He grabbed a bottom box and he pulled it. The boxes cam crashing down on us. Ryan C and I thought that was cool so we started pulling the boxes down. Then next thing in the line was the filler person. That person had to put a filler in the box and give it to the labeler that person put either 1-2,3-5,and6+. Then the next put a lot of food in the box.

Food for the needy families
Kelsey

Some of my class went to the armory. At the armory we got to help make boxes of food for the needy families. We had accessibly line and we passed a box down the line and every person added stuff to it. There was tons of food. Some of the food was soup, cereal, fruit snakes, candy, vitames, flower, green beans, salt and pepper, light salt, mash potato and vegetables. I am very prod of what I did.

Food Pantry
Stacey

I was relly glad that I got to help. We would put our kind of food in the box and pass the box on. When we went I was kind of nervose because I diden't want to mess up. I would load boxes on a cart and put them with the others. It was hard, but I managed to do it.

At the Armory
Aaron

I had very much fun. I was doing the boxes and fuits. The fruit went in a box. The boxes were very hevey when you stacked them. We got to have a snack because we worked so hard. The snack was good.

Mrs. Van and Julie added green beans to the boxes after Nathan put in the flour and tuna fish. Next Mara lifted the box to the floor.

Salvation Armory
Shannon

Yesterday some people in the forth and fifth grade went to the Salvation Armory. We had to ride a bus there. When we got there I looked at all the toys they had. It was full of toys and food. We were put right to work. In the beginning I had to put filters in the boxes. The best part about that was I also got to held some of the guys working with the boxes. They had a fun job. They got to pull down all of the boxes. Then the boxes fell on top of them. Mary O’ Hara was working by me. She had to put the labels on the boxes. I thought that would be a fun job, but she would not let me do that. I also got to put flour in the boxes. That was not as fun as I thought it would be. All you had to do was wait for boxes to come, when they came I had to put flour in it. I also got to put soup in boxes. It was fun to put the soup in the boxes. It was fun to see all the different kinds of soup. I would love to again someday.

At the Armory
Mary

When we got off the bus and into the Armory it was filled with toys, food, and boxes. When we got inside Ms. Chris ordered us to sit down. The lady in charge told us what to do and picked out two boys to get the boxes down and two girls, one girl for labeling and one to be filler. I was the labeler for awhile and Shannon was the filler for awhile.

Then we could trade jobs if we wanted. I didn’t want to then. After about an hour we got a snack. Then I traded jobs. I was the tomato person. When I started to put the tomatoes in I was looking at the soup paper so instead of two cans I put in three. It was very fun to work there and I would definitely do it again. If I go there again I think I will go to the tomatoes.

The Christmas Spirit
Ryan C.

We went to the armory. The food that we put in boxes is for people that need it. It was not easy, but it was not hard. It was all right. It made me feel in the Christmas sprit. It was fun.

I felt good when I did it. It was nice of me to help. I feel thank full that I could help. I was happy that I could help. I felt good

Mrs. Brown had the Christmas Spirit as she encouraged the kids to keep the line moving and work, work, work.

Mrs. Eldridge managed to stay out of the way by standing behind a camera.

We were both proud of the way the students took pride in getting the job done!

December 2000

Helping Others
Sara

At the Salvation Armory nine people from each class in 4th and 5th grade got picked to go and help make food baskets. I pushed a cart covered with boxes full of food. We took them over to a different spot. After awhile we had to start piling the boxes on top of the other boxes. Then I went over and worked in the area where you put pieces of cardboard in the box so the food doesn’t fall out. It was pretty boring at that place! The last place I went to was where you put two things of salt.

We started to get a little jam because the kids who were putting boxes on the carts weren’t putting enough boxes on the cart. There was a picture of my grandpa there when he was in the army. So my teacher took a picture of me and the picture of my grandpa. We got to have a snack from the people at the Salvation Armory. So we got to rest for ten minutes. Ten minutes didn’t seem very long!

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