I love Reach Out.  It's an event put on by the employees of BP.  BP doesn't sponsor it, it is employee driven.  The group collects names of families in need in the county which are suggested by the employees.  Then they contact the families and find out what they need and who are all part of their family.  The employees donate items and or money.  The items not donated are purchased from a store, food items are picked up and delivered to a gym.  Volunteers come in and wrap and sort presents.  Once the presents are wrapped and sorted according to family, then the packages are double checked to make sure everything matches up to the master list.  Another night, families come in and sort food into boxes for each family.  Usually families receive 6 large boxes of food items as well as items needed to run a house such as soap, laundry detergent, deodorant, toilet paper.  The amount given to each family is determined by the number of people in the family.  After the food is sorted and the presents are placed with the boxes then they are loaded into people's trucks along with perishables such as turkeys to be delivered. Sometimes we make it to the present wrapping, sometimes to the food sorting.  Last year we just couldn't go.  The year before I took my Dad and he was amazed.  This year it was just Job, Lona and I who could help wrap presents.  I really think that it is important to learn that others are not as fortunate as us and we can help out.  It started as just one lady placing a large tub outside a building asking for donations for one family and it grew into a reach out to the community.  One person can make a difference.  What else can we do?


The boxes in the background are food that is waiting to be sorted.