A Reluctant Helper
“When I woke up on Saturday morning, I didn’t want to go to the serving event and build beds, but my mom and dad made us go. Saturday is the only day me and my brothers get to play Xbox, so I didn’t want to miss that. But I knew that having a good attitude about it meant more fun—and probably more Xbox time after we got back home.
“We got there and started doing our jobs drilling holes in the wood, sanding, and screwing the pieces together, and I thought it was actually pretty fun. My goal was to make everything move really fast and efficiently. I was taking wooden boards from one station to another as quickly as I could.
The Sign that Changed Everything
“There was a table with all these snacks for the volunteers, but I didn’t have time to stop and get any. I did see the big truck right next to it though, and it had a sign on it that said, ‘No kid sleeps on the floor in our town.’
“I wasn’t really thinking about the kids before I saw that sign, and I didn’t even know there were kids in my area sleeping on the floor, but there are a lot. I think it would be horrible and uncomfortable to have to sleep on the floor. Immediately it made me want to work harder and faster.
“At the end of the day, we made 220 beds. Even if I didn’t exactly make a whole bed by myself, I still helped everyone work faster. That means 220 kids got to sleep in beds that I helped make. It’s a good feeling.”
-Truman, part of the Gateway family
Additional Resources
Find out about opportunities to serve at Gateway's upcoming outreach events.