Booze and philanthropy

It is Christmas Giveaway week at CRC. It is madness. Utter madness. Our 5,000-square-foot warehouse is jam packed with stuff. More than 60 nonprofit agencies are coming to pick it all up. We make piles for them based on the needs of their clients. It is back-breaking work. And we don’t eat well. Actually, that’s not true. We don’t eat right. This week we’ve had ham and sausage biscuits, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes with gravy, two kinds of Hermitage Bakery chess squares, peanut butter crackers, butter cookies, a little bit of fruit, and Bobbie Cox’s drunken orange cake.

We literally work from 9 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon making these piles. Some agencies serve almost 1,000 people. The large piles are assembled on pallets that are then transported to the staging area by our pallet queen, Kim. We do not need to go to the gym after this. However, we need a little pick-me-up now and again.

“Hey, Kim, ” Betsy texts. “Can you pick up some Bailey’s on the way in?” I think that’s against  CRC’s human resources policy. But I don’t check. We make a pot of coffee. Bailey’s in a little coffee is a very nice way to stay warm in the warehouse. Very nice, indeed. We make a second pot. Our volunteers here to help sort piles are convinced this is the best volunteer opportunity EVER.

But wait. There’s more! After our unhealthy lunch of fast food and bakery goods, it’s cocktail hour. Doesn’t every company offer Chardonnay during their afternoon break? Really? They don’t? How about funny hats? Are we the only company that encourages the wearing of funny hats? Actually, we require it. That may be against our human resources policy, too. I don’t check.

At the end of the week, Betsy, Kim and I will have given away well over $300,000 in gift items to nonprofits that will then distribute them to tens of thousands of people in need. Not bad for three chicks in a warehouse. Hic.

Funny hats

Ben Prom sports a jaunty look with a corn hat and a Christmas tree hat

Oh, we are all about hats here at CRC, especially at this time of year when a legion of volunteers joins us to sort inventory for our giant Christmas Giveaway. In the next week, we will distribute more than $100,000 in Christmas gifts to our nonprofit partners so their clients will be remembered this holiday season. And that involves a lot of sorting.

So Saturday we had a group in and Betsy, the originator of the hat requirement, bought festive head gear for all of them. I can’t tell you how impressed I am that these two guys were secure enough in their manhood to wear these things. We spent five hours sorting gifts into boxes that we can pull from to make up our “piles” for our partners. There are the predictable categories: men, women, teen girls, teen boys, children. And then there are our own inventions: God Box (for religious items that will go to faith-based nonprofits) and Granny Box (for gifts suitable for senior centers).

We always run across some fairly silly stuff when sorting. How about the Mr. Romantic Doll (with 16 romantic phrases including “Why don’t you make dinner and I’ll make breakfast?” Hehe). Or the plastic Queen Elizabeth statue with the solar-powered waving hand. Who wouldn’t want that?

You know, I have to say that I love my job all year long but especially at this time of year. Spending a Saturday in the warehouse with great people wearing silly hats, sweets from the Hermitage Bakery, biscuits from Cracker Barrel and piles of stuff, most of which will mean so much to the recipients is a good thing. No, it’s a great thing.