Cause #12 – Children’s Receiving Home
Event Date: December 9, 2010

Imagine taking the change from your pocket and not knowing how to count it. Almost seems too easy to think about…everyone knows how to count change, right?

Well, as I learned on this evening, not everyone is privy to know how to count change. Some of the kids at the Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento have never been taught remedial information like folding laundry, proper hygiene techniques, or counting change. It’s a sad reminder of the troubled lives some people in our community go through.

Unfortunately, many children are the victims of these troubled situations. The Children’s Receiving Home is a place where kids from 1 to 18 are placed to escape troublesome situations of all kinds. Sometimes they’re placed at CRH by Child Protective Services, sometimes by law enforcement officials, other times by concerned family members.

Regardless of how they get there, each of these kids has had experiences that few of us could ever imagine. They have a chip on their shoulder and more often than not, they’re scarred for life.

But there is hope for them. They thrive on positive attention and it means a lot when people come and spend time with them.

I volunteered with CRH as part of last year’s 20 Causes, 20 Days project, and had such a memorable and rewarding time last year that I really wanted to share that experience with other volunteers this year.

I met with the volunteers in the lobby. Steve, Megan, Nic, and Noelle joined me this evening and all had a cautious sense of optimism as we all introduced ourselves. Considering the security procedures necessary to enter the facilities, to a person who is visiting the CRH for the first time, it could be a bit intimidating.

On this evening, we would be building gingerbread houses with some of the kids.

Jared was our volunteer supervisor, and he led us to a kitchen/multipurpose area. I brought three gingerbread house kits and one gingerbread man kit. We unpacked two houses and the gingerbread men, and awaited the arrival of the kids.

The door opened and three young girls entered the room. Genessee, Serenity, and Haley sat down at the far corner of the table, understandably apprehensive of the five strangers awkwardly unwrapping gingerbread walls and roofs, gumdrops, and other candies.

Nic and Noelle went into the other room to mix the frosting (who knew you had to actually make the frosting? As I said to the others on this evening, I’m not a big “read the instructions” kind of guy.)

I did my best to entertain the kids with some dumb jokes, and I think the fact that helped break the ice a bit. The first batch of frosting was ready, and the girls all jumped out of their chairs to get started on creating their own.

They went to town on these cookies, adding gumdrops, candies, and heaping amounts of frosting. Of course, they snuck tastes of frosting on their fingertips, much to the chagrin of the supervisors. I didn’t tattle when I saw Genessee and Serenity sneak more tastes, and we exchanged sly secret smiles. I think this unspoken element of trust helped them feel more comfortable, because after a few minutes Genessee sat on Megan’s lap and they worked on her gingerbread man together.

Another young lady, Mary, entered the room, and she was noticeably shy. Any questions were answered with the slightest of head nods or shakes, and there was next to zero eye contact.

Something had happened in her life that caused her to become shy and reserved. We asked her if she wanted to make a gingerbread man, and with the slightest nod we placed a blank slate (a gingerbread cookie) in front of her and she got to work.

I think she found solace in that, because she created a beautiful gingerbread cookie and I could see her smile a couple times when we complimented her work.

By this time, a couple more girls had joined us. Alayhza and Marissa, who were a bit older than the other girls. We had gotten into the gingerbread houses and were busy working on those, with everyone helping create the roofs while Steve and Noelle held the walls together to let the frosting dry.

We were all having a great time and sharing a lot of laughs. I was a mess from not fully grasping how to efficiently use the frosting applicator, and everyone was laughing with me as we all laughed at me.

Mary felt like she wanted to leave, so she grabbed her cookie and left. We were sad to see her go, but as she walked out I think we all felt that we’d helped brighten her day a bit.

Marissa and Noelle were chatting quite a bit, and in the course of their discussion it came out that I worked at Hot 103.5. Marissa couldn’t quite believe it. I know this because she asked me if I was serious at least a dozen times. I told her that I would make sure that Nelly’s new song, Just a Dream, would play on the station at least once between 9am and noon.

While I work in sales for the station and have nothing to do with when the song plays, we play the song enough to know that it would air at least once during those hours.

I heard the song the next day and thought of her. I hope she heard it too, because I know she would have smiled and probably told her friends that I played it just for her.

We finished up the houses, and by this time all the girls and us were the best of BFFs. We were about to wrap up the evening and I wanted to give everyone a high-five. Marissa was the only one who would hook me up with one, while the rest (at Megan’s prodding) insisted I had cooties.

After a couple minutes, they all relented and gave me high-fives. I acted like their high-fives hurt my hand, which only encouraged them to high-five me harder and harder. After about four of the hardest high-fives each of the four girls could muster, my hand was red and throbbing. But we were all laughing and having a great time.

It was a great way to end a fun evening. After the volunteers and I cleaned up, Jared answered some questions. The CRH is looking for volunteers to spend time with kids of all ages, specifically the older kids. Prospective volunteers must test background checks and complete the application process before they are allowed to become long-term volunteers.

What a great feeling to see the kids warm up and really latch on to all of the volunteers.

Megan said she will remember “the smiles on the children’s faces as they began to warm up to the group. An especially touching moment was when one of the little girls crawled up on my lap. It made me realize how in need these children were of the simpliest things like affection which so many of us take for granted.”

Noelle agreed. “After a couple hours with the girls I didn’t want to leave. I hadn’t left before I was already thinking when I could visit next! I plan on making future trips to the Home as well as sharing my experience with others who may share an interest in making similar visits. I believe I can say for all of us that it was a great experience and we had a pretty good time,” she said.

Thank you to all the volunteers, Jared, and the Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento for having us out there on this evening. While we only made gingerbread cookies and houses, we made an impression on six girls who were grateful to spend some time with us.

I encourage you to make some time to become a volunteer with the Children’s Receiving Home. It’ll teach you a lot about the resiliency of youth, how fortunate you really have it, and how spending time with these great kids can make a major difference in their lives. It’s definitely worth it.

Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento
Volunteer opportunities
Volunteer contact: Kelly Bradfield (kbradfield@crhkids.org)
916.349.7530 x29

Please leave a comment below!