January

This last Christmas break was very hectic for me. I made the trip back home after our fall semester so that I could spend time with my family and friends over the holidays. I ended up continuing to help out at the Lights of Hope event which ran through Christmas time, only this time, I was helping with the tear down and packing up of the event's various displays and activities. The setup of the event was very chaotic, but I had no idea how demanding the tear down would be as well. Lights of Hope is setup in a park area that the city grants to the director every year at around Christmas time, so that means that there is astronomical amounts of setup and tear down time required. I completed 26 hours worth of volunteer time over the break, which consisted of packing up lights and dismantling displays such as a giant 5:1 scale model of a reindeer and sleigh (I wish I would have remembered to take a picture of it, it looked very cool). One thing that caught my attention during this time was when I was talking to another one of the volunteers who was put in charge of gathering workers each year. He told me that each year it is getting harder and harder to find volunteers to help with the event, and that the possibility of the event even happening next year was in question. I thought that was pretty disappointing, considering the event raises a lot of money for a local North Brevard charity, Hope for North Brevard. I would highly consider volunteering again next year if the event is still held. It is for a great cause and is an awesome event to attend with family!

Total for this semester: 26 hours