Hebrew National Better-Than-A-Picnic Picnic Orlando

This past Sunday was Orlando’s turn to host the Hebrew National Better-Than-A-Picnic Picnic at Lake Eola. The day was a scorcher but the turn out was amazing. And when I say amazing I mean they ran out of hot dogs amazing!!!! Over 600 served to a steady crowd of people. SUCCESS!!!!!! I was very happy and surprised with the turnout especially since it was so hot out, but people came out to support us and I was thrilled. What’s more we brought in a whole bunch of donations for the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida and seeing first hand how much those items were needed was an experience all in itself.

The morning started out by my fellow bloggers and I putting together gift bags for our chosen charity The Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida. I was excited about this because I was able to get my older kids involved with putting them together and in the process explain what we were doing for them. Unfortunately, there were homeless at the park who were asking for the bags as we were making them and we had to tell them they couldn’t have a bag, even though in a round about way it was for them. I hated telling them no, but we had no choice. We quickly made up the rest of the bags and had the guys take them back to my car so they were out of sight.

We all got hot dogs and water afterward and enjoyed seeing the traffic coming through the park and people eating Hebrew National hot dogs and listening to music from the XL 106.7 booth. We even had surprise visits from Elmo and Batman and the kids loved it!!! The all stood in line patiently waiting their turn to get their pictures snapped with the characters and they each got a small bag of candy too. I loved seeing the smiles on their faces, especially my little one. We even got to take our pictures with Batman!

This was an amazing day for me. Not only did I get to meet new bloggers Leigh and Britt but I got to see some familiar faces in Melanie and Cooper and I had so much fun with the service project and seeing all the smiling faces. We ran out of food in less than 4 hours and with the service project finished early we decided to head on out, being in the heat for four hours had me craving a shower!!! But I had so much fun and was so excited that Orlando had a good showing for the hot dogs and for the heart they had in the donations.

Now, I have a bit more of the Hebrew National picnic story to share. I have lived in Orlando for 26 years, and I know just how much the homeless here need help. It breaks my heart! The donations that were collected were to be taken by me to the Coalition the following day and I enlisted the help of my son and away we went. I had one of the most frightening, heart wrenching experiences of my life, and my son and I learned a huge lesson.

We got lost driving around and it wasn’t in a good part of town, but once we were on the Coalition’s property we felt like we were transported into another world. My son went into the building while I waited in the car, two things I didn’t really want to do but there was no parking spaces and there were people everywhere. So while he went to get someone to help us I sat there watching everyone. People looking to bum a smoke and others shaking their heads no, little kids with torn clothes playing with a deflate ball on the corner, so utterly heart breaking.

The donations are much more than what you see here there are boxes full of stuff under the bags! My car was packed!

My son brought a woman out with a cart and I got out of the car to help unload. What happened next made me have to bite my tongue  to keep from crying. People came from everywhere to help carry in the items, one man saw a can of shaving cream and blessed me for bringing it, they were so willing to help and so very thankful for the little things that we take for granted every single day. We were able to donate food, clothing, diapers, toiletries, cleaning supplies, paper products and so much more and I can’t tell you just how much it touched everyone there.

After being thanked profusely my son and I drove home in silence. Once we got home my son gathered my husband, two sisters and I in one room and hugged us all telling us how thankful he is for us and how much he loves us. Something he hardly ever does! I lost it at that point and hugged my kids close to my heart and just cried. To say that this experience touched my heart is an understatement because I just can’t find the words to explain just how much it has touched me and my family.

I was compensated by The MotherHood for my time, but this post is 100% my heart.