A Beautiful Sunday Afternoon

It was a gorgeous, warm, sunny, summer day as we descended down the elevator to Goods for Good’s basement storage facility in Bridgewater, New Jersey. My sister Ilana and I could not help but wonder whether we shouldn’t be lounging at the pool instead. Our concerns were quickly allayed when the elevator door opened. We saw over a dozen volunteers like us going through hundreds of boxes of donated clothing from The Children's Place and organizing them by size and type for Goods for Good’s partner organizations in Malawi. It was inspiring to see a group of dedicated volunteers from various backgrounds giving up their beautiful Sunday to spend hours sorting through children's clothing for orphans in Africa.

The work was not complicated but it was important and necessary. Goods for Good has been able to provide so much for so many because of the tireless efforts of Melissa and her staff as well as the many volunteers who come out to help get the goods ready for shipment. This was my second trip to the basement storage area for a packing party. At the first party, I was joined mostly by family members and some close friends who I had known for years, and it was great. But this time was much different and really showed how far Goods for Good has come as an organization. Instead of family and old friends (though there were still some), volunteers from a local church, G4G’s intern Denice, work associates of Jeremy’s, a Board member, and Melissa and Jeremy's Chichewa tutor Merriam all came out to assist. I particularly enjoyed the banter between Merriam, a native Malawian and Jeremy over Jeremy's grasp of her native language.

It was wonderful to be there and the experience really demonstrated the diverse community that Melissa has brought together to make G4G a success. Each volunteer helps G4G realize its mission to provide the goods that we have in excess to those who really need them. In the end we packed a record number of boxes (102!!) of school bags, shirts, shorts, pants, jeans, jackets, dresses and accessories that will soon be shipped to partner organizations in Malawi.
It really was a wonderful way to enjoy a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Zach Kahn