I volunteered last night for the GR Jaycee's Holiday Shopping Tour and brought a big group of students from my department at Aquinas (and then assembled into a bigger group with students from GVSU and GRCC). The Jaycees take underprivileged kids shopping for Christmas gifts for their families, and then the children meet Santa and get a present for themselves. I was a personal shopper last year and did it again this year. This is bit problematic for me because this involves shopping... with children.
I'd heard that there were going to be local celebrities helping out yesterday, but I didn't really think much of it. But I saw Mary Ellen Murphey, a DJ; Antoinette, a spokesperson who I see on tv who promotes GRCC; Gerry Barnaby, a tv news guy; and John Gonzalez, a reporter for the Grand Rapids Press. I was paired up with someone to shop with because, for a little while, there were more volunteers than kids. My partner was Dr. Bernard Taylor, superintendent for Grand Rapids Public Schools, a fairly influencial fellow. It was really cool to see television and radio personalities, but when I talked to my students about these people, they had no idea who I was talking about. I suddenly realized how long I've lived in Grand Rapids and how damn old I am. I'm all excited about seeing and meeting local celebrities--this is not what many people, especially college students, give a crap about.
However, I'm still damn impressed.
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