Extreme Helping Hands Debut

My friends and I decided to start a small co-op which combined some of the things we like to get together and do already, like math games and book discussion group and park days, with a more community-based component in which our kids and our families got more involved with kid-friendly service projects which served our local community. We had originally decided to call it Helping Hands Club (good one, Kathleen), but after our first meeting with the kids the name morphed into *Extreme* Helping Hands, which really has a fun twist of extreme sport tossed in for good measure.

We're currently getting a revue ready to take to a local senior center, but as it turns out our first outing was actually an outgrowth of our first book discussion group of the year. Last month we read Catwings by Ursula K. LeGuin together. The big kids are modeling how to talk critically about a book with the younger kids, and we're all enjoying it. One of the extension activities we did afterward was to make no-sew kitty beds that our local shelter asks for year-round for their homeless felines, and also to gather some pet food for the cause.

Many of our members were available to go drop off our items there today. We also got a heart-melting tour of the facility. Seeing those kittens immediately took me back to the day just over a year ago that we selected our own Zelda and Ivy from that very kitten room and they became beloved family.

Public service announcement of the day: We saw lovely animals young and not-so-young at the shelter today. We even saw a beeee-autiful Brittany purebreed there-- purebreeds are there often as well as the more eclectic, 'creative' varieties. Please consider a shelter when considering a pet. There are some wonderful friends to be made there.