Well, the Weekend of Service is over and I think it was a great success! We had 69 people over 4 sessions come to our Christmas cards for Ethiopian orphans project at Archiver's.
Out of all those people, only 2 got angry. Why you ask? Well, apparently they got some bad information from somewhere about the start time of the session they had signed up for. Consequently, they arrived 1/2 an hour early for a 1:30 start time, and noone was there. That's because Gretchen, DD1, DD2 and I were all out getting a much deserved break after our successful morning session. Gretchen came back early (about 1:05) and apparently the two young women went off on her about how they were told that the 9:30 session was cancelled, and to be at Archiver's at 1, and how they were put out about noone being there at 1 p.m. I think they some pretty strong language must of been used. My daughters overheard some of what was said, although it was over before I got in the building, and they said it was not pretty. I felt so sorry for Gretchen. She is so sweet, and these young women wounded her. So I went over to talk to the two young woman and apologize for whatever they felt they needed an apology for because really I don't know where they got their bad information. They seemed to settle down some then, and finished out the session okay. They even seemed a bit happy when they finished up before everyone else at 2. But as you can guess they never apologized for their behavior.
Later in the day when I was back home, I checked the email that I'd sent out to one of the two women to see if I'd inadvertently messed up the email to them. I checked both my Sent and Inbox, and the one email I'd sent them didn't have any of the info in it that they claimed was there. So the only thing I can think is that they got some misinformation from church, but who knows.
I have to say that I don't understand the attitude of these women. Surely they understood that we didn't purposefully feed them bad information for a volunteer project, did they?!! We are an orphan care ministry affiliated with a Christian church for goodness sakes! Why would we intentionally sabotage the project for them? Also, why would they be the ONLY ones that were that early to the session start? I think that if they would've thought about that instead of jumping to conclusions, then maybe they would've been better off themselves, and for sure it would've been better for Gretchen! I think it must be a maturity thing for them. I sincerely hope that when they got back home that they reread my email to them, and understood that maybe they'd misread the information or didn't completely read the email. And maybe it's unChristian of me, but I sort of too wish that they feel bad about their behavior because it was really uncalled for and inappropriate given the circumstances. MOst of all, I feel badly that Gretchen had to take the brunt of it as she really had nothing to do with communicating any of the information about the session. She just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time!
Enough about that, for the rest of the news is really good news. We must have about 200 cards to sent off to Children's Hope International for the orphans in Ethiopia!!! And everyone else was so nice and seemed so appreciative of the project, the organization, and the ministry. I'm really happy overall with how it went, and if and when we do this again, I'll have lots of experience under my belt with what to do and what not to do again!
Oh, and lest I forget, I also have to tell you that Archiver's was GREAT! They were very accommodating, kind, pleasant and helpful. I don't remember the assistant manager's name that worked this weekend in the store, but she was really a Godsend! So a big Thank You to Arhiver's is in order!!!
We still can't find out card reader to get the photos off of my camerea, but when I do, I'll post some photos of the entire weekend including the girls in their Halloween costumes.
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