Members of the Beacon Project = Future Professional Organizers

Hey hey everybody!  I just got back from volunteering at the Lighthouse this morning, and the two hours I spent there seemed to fly by.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to spend any time with the kids today, because our supervisor, Dollie, needed some major organizational backup.  Due to recent staff changes, the records and files of Lighthouse are in disarray, so Dollie has been desperately trying to get everything organized.  This would be a huge job for just one person, so she enlisted the help of the Beacon Project this week as her organizational task-force.  Lighthouse is moving to a new facility over Christmas break, because they are way too cramped in their current quarters.  They are moving to a Baptist church downtown and will have a plethora of space there, something they are ecstatic about. Since they are expanding so much, they will be hiring additional employees.  So, today I spent the majority of my time today making copies of the Lighthouse Staff Handbook to put in folders to give to the new employees.  I also continued organizing their overflowing resource room.  When people say things have to get worse before they get better, they are definitely telling the truth.  As I tried to organize more, the room seemed to get messier and messier.   Hopefully, we’ll be able to see some progress being made soon and then move on to working with the kids!

As I spend more time at Lighthouse, I realize just how great of a thing it is that they are doing.  They allow for the parents of these children to have free child care, so they can hold steady jobs and get back on their feet again.  I love the atmosphere of Lighthouse, because it is so full of energy and happiness.  All of the staff that I have come in contact with are such nice people.  They truly care about the children and seem to really enjoy their jobs.  They realize the importance of the services they are providing, and since it is a Christian organization, their faith-based attitudes are very uplifting.

Fall Festival planning is going really well.  We had to change dates, because Lighthouse had a conflict, but the official date for the Lighthouse Fall Festival is November 6^th from 2-4 p.m.  If anyone wants to come by and help or just check it out, it’s in the basketball practice gym at Drury.  We are going to have ten booths for the kids and their families to rotate through, including a cake-walk, pumpkin painting, fall crafts, pin the feathers on the turkey, and face-painting.  We’ve been coordinating with the Lighthouse family event coordinator, Brandon, to make sure we know who is responsible for what and what we need to do before November 6^th to be ready.  It will be a really good opportunity for Lighthouse families to meet and talk to each other, and I know it will be a blast for the kids too.

I hope we see everyone at the pumpkin painting social tonight!!!  Be sure to bring your artistic talent!

~Molly