A curse and then a blessing

All day today I worked on building this counter/bar in between a kitchen and dining room. I was rather proud of my job (plus it was fun). In addition to being able to pass my skills in carpentry and sheetrock to other people I have been able to learn stuff. Yesterday I helped a man named Mr. Turner (a true character) wire a bunch of lights and sockets in his house.


In other blog entries I have mentioned the summer camp that I worked at a several days. To refresh your memory, it was a free summer camp in the Lower Ninth Ward for children (all black). Each day they would have between 15 and 20 kids there all day to do things such as play games/puzzles, do arts and crafts, play music, and practice school skills (math and reading). The camp also provided snacks twice a day as well as lunch twice a week. It truly was a great program as many of these parents need to go to work to make ends meet and it really is helpful for them to have a safe place for their kids that they don't have to pay for, rather than have the kids roam the street all day like the children in our neighborhood do.
Well I found out yesterday that the camp was forced to close a week early due to a disgruntled mother who was convinced the camp/organization was doing shady business (I really don't know more than this it is just how it was explained to me). Regardless, the camp was forced to close down a week before they were planning to (kids here go back to school far earlier than back east), but at least it was only a week of inconvenience to the parents.
But here's the happy ending. I spent all morning yesterday along with the camp director and another counselor going through all the toys, school/art supplies, and books to figure out which kids would enjoy them the most and then creating care packages for the parents to come pick up. This allows the stuff to go to those who will most appreciate it as well as give the kids free school supplies that the parents don't have to go out and buy. The whole time doing it I kind of felt like my parents when they organize things for the holiday drives for their jobs.

How far does the apple fall from the tree?