INSANE! That’s what today was! We were overloaded with kids and had a waiting list and all the kids were super hyped-up! We had a record number of 63 kids total by closing time.
I took a short break to swollow some food in a different part of the building and I was shocked to see all the kids there who weren’t in our play space. There were kids everywhere! Their parents were maybe scared away from dropping their kids off with us because of the chaos! (I feel bad about that!)
During our time here, we’ve come across several stories of families living in unthinkable conditions. This morning we had a group of siblings who all clearly needed baths and they went straight for the play-food. They only played for a few minutes before asking for something to eat and I spent the next 45 minutes or so at the snack table getting them whatever they asked for and cleaning up several spilled cups as they ate quicker than I’ve ever seen. It clearly was something they needed before going back to playing. I was amazed at how much they ate.
(The moment was too busy for a picture but this picture is from a much calmer time and kind-of illustrates it… sort of)
So, it was decided today that CDS needs a third team here and they are working on making that happen right now before we all leave the end of this week.
To end tonight, here is a picture of John, our CDS program manager relaxing with a therapy dog. These dogs show up every so often and we let them in for the kids.
This picture was taken this past weekend during a quiet time. It’s seriously hard to think that we ever had quiet moments in this space after the crazy day we had today!! But here’s proof!