Inventory

This year I was asked to help out with the Allen Nativity Exhibit which received a loud and definitive "yes!" from me!  I have wanted to help with this event for years but the delicate possessions being put on display are not fit for tiny hands that I would have had to accompany me.  I've always been able to donate our families nativities for the event but no more. Now that the kids are both in school, I jumped at the chance.

Hundreds of volunteer hours go into this program which begins its stirrings as early as July and August.  There are people in charge of electricity, trees, inventory, setting up sections for display, food preparation and service, music, flowers (100s of poinsettias), live nativity, guides/ambassadors, advertising, community relations, clean up, and who knows what else!   I was asked to be an inventory helper.  We greet those donating their nativities and other decor items such as fabric, trees, lighting, etc. and take in their goods counting and tagging each piece as we go.  There is quite the computer program to help organize the information in case anything is ever misplaced.

On Tuesday we received HUNDREDS of nativities!  In fact 50-100 more than in any previous year!  About 650 total! Many are international or homespun and it was great to hear their owners talk about their nativities.  We were swamped with incoming exhibitors from the morning until about 8 pm.  We barely had time to grab the provided lunch and dinners.  We ate as we kept entering donations.  Luckily it slowed in the evening and were able to get caught up on things that had been put on the back burner.

It has been great to be a part of something so much bigger than the efforts of any one person and to share the love of our Savior.  I cannot wait to see it all done.  It will be open to the public, free of charge, for all of Friday and until about 6pm Saturday, when in a matter of a couple of hours no one will even know such an event took place at our church as everything will be removed to it's owner and put away until the next year.