A day in the life

Sometimes people ask me what a typical day is like and I usually respond that there is no typical day.  But let me tell you about yesterday...

7:15 AM  - Put the dogs in their crates and head to Hartford for our Board of Directors meeting being hosted by Director Tiffany Hubbard at her offices at McCarter and English.  (Although the meeting starts at 8:15, getting into downtown Hartford in the morning can be a bear, as any of you who commute certainly know!)  It is a very full agenda, in fact, the packet for the meeting was 100 pages long!  The incredible volunteers on our Board had read the material and came prepared for healthy discussions about finance, personnel, work planning, and fundraising issues.  And the meeting ended right on schedule at 10:15.

As the meeting wrapped up, checked in with my son by phone to make sure he'd been able to meet the dishwasher repairman  and give the dogs a little time out of their crates since I knew I wouldn't be home until late.

10:30 AM - Headed out from McCarter and English to the ShopRite in West Hartford to take part in their "Help Bag Hunger" event.  Look, they gave me my own nametag!  This event brings local "celebrities" to bag groceries for an hour as a way of raising awareness and raising funds to help Foodshare fight hunger.  I worked from 11:00 to 12:00 and learned just how hard a job bagging groceries really is!  They told me I was a natural, but still, it was hard work.

My last customer of my shift was Shari Cantor who runs the food pantry at Jewish Family Services in
West Hartford and she was shopping for the pantry.  What a coincidence!  When Miriam, our cashier asked her for a donation, Shari asked if it was okay to go on the Foodshare website to make a larger donation.  Well, of course, what would I say to that, but "yes!"  Later in the day, Shari e-mailed me to tell me she had done so and had doubled her original donation in honor of my bagging her groceries.

After finishing my shift a little past noon, store owner Chuck Joseph treated me to a sandwich from their deli, so I could get on my way to my next thing...

1:00 PM - Took part in the monthly meeting of the Connecticut Food Policy Council at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.  This advisory group to the state legislature works on improving food policy in the state and is currently planning a workshop in October for those working on food policy issues.

3:00 PM - Made it into my office at Foodshare for the first time today and after starting to try to catch up on e-mail, spent some time with Michael Morris from CHEFA to acknowledge their recent grant and give him the chance to see Foodshare in operation.

Returned to my desk and worked a while longer on responding to e-mail (I get well over 100 messages per day) and phone calls, as well as finalizing and distributing the agenda for our management team meeting on Tuesday.

4:30 PM - Headed to the Spiritual Life Center in West Hartford for their 30th anniversary event.  The group observed this anniversary by making 30 prayer shawls for 30 organizations.  It was a lovely program and great to see the wonderful work this group had done.  And, what can I say - I love the shawl, it's even in my color!

7:30 PM - Made it home exactly 12 hours and 15 minutes after I left this morning to let those dogs out of the crates and give them dinner.  (Thank goodness my son had spent part of the day with them - don't worry, they weren't locked in crates all that time!  I do, after all, plan my life around them!  :-))  Spent a few minutes on some household chores and then, although I don't watch much TV, a half hour with a favorite sitcom as a way to unwind.  And, of course, I had to spend some time comforting the big dog who is afraid of the thunder!

8:30 PM - Headed into my home office to get back to the work e-mail and write some blog entries.  I can often write several at once and schedule them to post at strategic times.  Also checked my calendar for Friday and next week...more of the same...

10:00 PM - Put on the 10:00 news in my bedroom and fell asleep before it was over! 

But I'm not complaining!  I wouldn't have it any other way!