Warm Fuzzies

Posted on 22. Mar, 2010 by Marguerite in Uncategorized

When I was 18, I had my very first job working with kids. I worked at this summer “away” camp and adored it. It was really a pivotal time in my life. But of course, you aren’t reading this to get detailed work history or anything…so the point is this-every week at this camp, we had a goodbye campfire and exchanged what we called “warm fuzzies”. I haven’t really experienced anything like that feeling since. That is, until we had the Co-op’s very first Annual Spring Clean-up Day/Crawfish Boil. Not only did we have donations (thanks Netta!) from the folks who couldn’t make it, but everyone who signed up came and brought reenforcements. We had over 25 volunteer family members and 15+ kids at the event. It was the most amazing cooperative experience I have ever had. (And I like to think of myself as a pretty darn good hippy!)

We had a few goals in mind. 1) Beat the rain; 2) Build relationships between staff, parents, and families; 3) Clean some stuff. The Co-op came up with a few project ideas and brainstormed how to stay as green as possible:

Landscape the front facade and clean out the flower beds
Leaf duty (we have the most gorgeous, crazy-insane-amounts-of-leaves-bearing trees ever)
Build a sustainable solution to our organic edible garden drainage and create an ADA accessible boardwalk
Co-op Older Kids at Work
Paint a classroom with some lovely neutral earthtones (no-VOC paint of course)
General center clean-up

I tell you…our famlies were rockstars! I will not ever be able to express how cool it is to not only be around my kid all day, but to bring him up in a place where I feel as though our village is truly coming together and helping to raise him. I know these early years of our kids’ lives go so fast. I am just so proud to be a part of something bigger, and as a business owner, to actually see our tagline in action.