Volunteering for CYT

Our volunteering activity on April 15th was a connection through Mike, as his wife works with the non-profit CYT group.  It is a theater group in the area that works with kids from all different school districts to get them involved int he many joys of theater, set design and building, makeup, costume design, and of course, acting.  I had done some theater when I was in middle and high school, so I was looking forward to working on a project that had some familiarity.

Our job on this Saturday was to help the group break down stage sets from a recent production and save all the material we could for them to reuse to save money on expensive lumber.  We started with a large pile of jumbled lumber and set pieces and after the organizer, Andy, showed us around and got us started, we each jumped into the pile.  I enjoy working with my hands and power tools, so instead of jumping on the organizing part, which would be my usual task, I just did the deconstruction of the lumber.

I have to say, I really enjoyed seeing the big pile of lumber getting smaller with 5 of us working on various pieces and Sarah doing most of the hauling of the separate pieces to the stacks for storage.  It was tiring work and hot, but I was happy to help a group that fills a role that it sounded like the local schools didn't have any way to provide.

I think as a group we all worked well together and were able to tackle a large task efficiently in the time we had.  We also had fun, which to me, is something I don't always think of when I am working.  It is nice to be in a group that reminds me to have fun and we can find that balance of fun and work as well.