Still Many Gaps in Giving

Today was Christmas, we worked with the organization Without Walls to put on their annual Christmas party, or “Birthday Party For Jesus”, for both families and individuals living in poverty. I worked giving out presents to kids as young as six months old to as old as 16 years old. After sorting the gifts that members of various communities and churches had donated into groupings by gender and age, we distributed them to hundreds of kids. Often times we wouldn’t have presents for kids on the older side of the spectrum, which was disheartening but ultimately showed that even in an organization as well run as this one, there are still many gaps in what is needed. Because of this, I ended up having some uncomfortable interactions with kids more my age, however the reactions I got by some of the little kids made the unpleasant interactions obsolete. I remember randomly picking up a doll for a young five year old girl and watching her face light up as she saw it was an Elsa doll. This reaction was repeated after I handed another young girl a Barbie doll and her eyes became wide and mouth gaped open. It truly felt as though I had completely made her day and shed a child like innocence on the entire process.

~ Rachel Lock; 10th grade, Manhattan, New York