Monday Check-In

It’s time to check-in.

I spent zero dollars this weekend — mostly because I didn’t make it to the grocery store like I was intending, or to see the new Bond film.

Instead, I woke up early on Saturday morning and headed to the Red Cross chapter headquarters in midtown Manhattan, and was shipped off to New Jersey to work in a warehouse for eight hours. The goal was to put together 100,000 care packages that included blankets, flashlights, batteries, antibacterial soap, and a few other items. I was a part of an assembly line of workers, shoving items into a bag and passing it along to other workers who would shove other items into a bag. I have a lot of respect for people who work in warehouses or manufacturing plants and are able to stand in a single spot and do the same thing over and over again all day. My feet were killing me after I got back on the bus to head back to New York.

All the volunteers I worked with this weekend were great and kindhearted, but I also felt torn about how much of an impact our efforts were going to make on the Sandy recovery. It’s been nearly two weeks after the storm, and flashlights and blankets seem like they would be less of a priority now. Of course, the Red Cross is a huge operation and have mobile feeding trucks and other things happening at the same time, but I wished that I felt like my efforts were making a better impact. Felix Salmon has a great piece about how I’m feeling today. In any case, I was too exhausted to spend any money this weekend.

And how were your weekends?

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