Another week...

With each passing week I am given more responsibilities at work. At work we still don't have an executive director and the guy who is running the show (I forget his title) has cancer and will be taking some time off for treatment. Luis is assuming some of his duties, so it falls to me to pick up where he leaves off. That job description just keeps getting longer...
On a lighter note, today was my first of many Saturdays to work with volunteers. We attacked a shipment of women's clothes and only got through about 2 1/2 pallets worth. There were only ten of us working on it, so we didn't do too bad. These huge boxes are full of all kinds of clothes and we have to sort them out. We separate them according to size -S,M,L,XL, and XXL and then break it down further according to what type of clothing - blouse, pants, dress, coats, etc. This makes it easy for us when a ministry partner asks for clothes so we can give them a good assortment for the women to "shop" from. It's a cool program, but it takes lots of volunteer work.
Speaking of volunteers...on Wednesday a group of guys from another of our partners came down and worked for the day framing out a new wall and hanging some drywall - it sure is amazing what can be done when you don't have to do all of the work!

Whirlwind

After being reacquainted with my wife, our cats, and our apartment I thought things would settle down a little bit. I was practically gone for two weeks, but it still hasn't let up much. This past week was my first full week spent at The Storehouse and it was a crazy one...likely the first of many to come. I have been given the task to complete a couple of building projects in our warehouse, but with the long list of things to get done each day, I don't know how I am supposed to make any progress. In one of the meetings I had this week, my boss was explaining to our office manager that I would be taking on about a third of her regular duties, a third of our warehouse manager's duties, and a third of his own duties. What strikes me as odd is that he just finished telling our warehouse manager that I would be doing a third of the warehousing duties, a third of his own duties, and a third of my own...Now I haven't had a math class in a while, but I think that four thirds adds up to more than one. It sounds like I'm not going to be able to get anything done. Well, at least I won't be bored!

Finally home!

After spending an entire week on the road near Seattle, WA, I got to come home for a couple of days only to turn around and hit the road (and the air) all over again. Early Monday morning Luis (my boss) and I flew over to Pittsburgh to check out that Storehouse. This one (and the one in Denver) are different because they are the International Distribution Centers for World Vision US. We got a good look at the operations and I spent most of the afternoon getting pointers from their volunteer coordinator.
That night we drove down to Philippi, WV. Things were going well until we entered the Twilight Zone! He wrote the directions down wrong, so we spent an extra hour and a half driving around Appalachia looking for a hole in the wall hotel. It seemed to be more like a dormitory than a hotel, but they did have an excellent restaurant connected to them - talk about some good home cookin'! Tuesday, we visited the Appalachia Storehouse and studied their operations and such.
The next morning, it was back up to Pittsburgh to catch a flight to Chicago. The hotel we stayed in here was like a five star hotel compared to the Philippi Lodge. Chicago was the first Storehouse and has been around for about 13 years, so they really had things down to an art. But, as with most operations, they do have their own problems - ones I do not intend to duplicate in NY.
Thursday night I finally made it back home around 10 o'clock, and there was one happy girl to meet me at the train station. I think that things are finally settling down and we might actually get to plan out vacations, have a budget, and not have to worry about making the rent on time (that is, after this month!). I don't think I am allowed any more business trips for a long time!