Singing employees and muddy feet

Singin' in the Rain
I usually work upstairs in the Communications office, but the summer is a funny time. Out of the five people on the Comms team, 2 are on holiday, and 2 work sporadic hours during the summer because they have young children. If you're any good at math(s) - sorry, I'm American - you'll know that that just leaves one: Me.

So, most of the Summer, I've been alone in our little office on the third floor. Today I decided to come down and work on the bottom floor in Supporter Care with the lovely Jenni Dyason and the lovely Di Parry.

Our Amersham offices, for those of you who've never had the privilege to visit, are attached to a storefront where we sell our Latin American handicrafts. So those who work in Supporter Care not only do a million and one things for our supporters, they're also constantly on retail duty.

Di, who usually works upstairs (is this getting confusing?), is in quite a chirpy mood. So after lunch, as she was working diligently, began singing a song that said something about 'living in a land of make-believe' - quite loudly - when she realized there were two ladies browsing in the shop.

Thankfully, they were understanding. In fact, they said they'd just heard the organic veg man in the high street singing as well! It must be that kind of day...

I'm personally thankful Di's having a good enough time at work to be moved to sing!

New Wine B
Last Thursday and Friday, I spent some time at New Wine B in Somerset with the Toybox team. A group of volunteers led by Angela Murray, our Advocacy Coordinator, did an amazing job running the Rendezvous Cafe, the Pamper Corner, and the Toybox gifts and sponsorship stand in the New Wine Marketplace.

On Friday, I spent several hours in the Pamper Corner, the brainchild of Toybox supporter Rosie Seamark. Volunteers in the Corner rubbed feet, massaged shoulders, painted fingernails, and talked to New Wine-goers about Toybox and the children we help in Latin America.

I have to say, the thought of rubbing feet that had been camping out and trudging through dirt in flip-flops for days on end was not appealing. But the reality was better than the idea. I had an amazing time serving the people who came to our stand. It was a really humbling experience - I had to remind myself that Jesus had rubbed the feet of his friends: people who had been roaming in the desert for weeks! And I felt really blessed to have amazing conversations with people about the things they were learning at the festival.

I also got the chance to talk a lot about our children in Latin America. People were so curious about the work we do: they wanted to know how we work, how long the children can stay in the homes, and where child sponsorship money goes. It was great to be able to answer their questions - I've been learning a lot about Toybox myself over the past few months!

Getting out of the office for a couple of days and doing some hands-on(literally!), face-to-face work was encouraging, and helped me come back to the office this week feeling really connected to our supporters.