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dancerjodiLast night's trooping event pictures: http://www.501neg.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=448
It was a great experience, here's my writeup from the NEG board)
I can't express how much I was touched to be a part of this event. I had never heard of Wales, MA much less knew where it was. We arrived to find a smallish school, kind of like one large room. Classrooms were made by making dividers of file cabinets, cubicle walls, etc. Also, the place was not heated! Apparently the town budget isn't allowing for that right now. Mike's friend informed us that oftentimes the kids sit in class with sweaters and/or jackets to keep warm during the day (so last night was no exception). Its just so very sad for me to see this, living in a city that's got a lot of $ to throw at schools (we have a lot of commercial real estate that pumps the taxes that go to the schools). We're building new schools right now and have crazy resources for extracurricular programs (music, the arts, sports) and these poor kids don't even have heat. It was inspiring to see and hear of the kind of things that the kids and teachers do despite these barriers and it was nice to be able to give them something extra. To see the excitement in these kids faces you'd guess that the cold just didn't bother them.
It was a family movie night, and the kids came in PJs, SW costumes and brought their sleeping bags and pillows along. I'd say the ages ranged from 1st grade up to 5th (with parents/siblings). There was a social hour where they got to hang out with us, and there was candy, popcorn, soda and raffle prizes to be had (after which they snuggled up to watch ROTJ). Early on the kids kept trying to sneak into our dressing room while we were getting ready, and the first graders were all excited that Darth Vader was in *their* classroom. Once out in costume we were barraged with wide eyed smiles, lots of hugs, and requests for autographs. There were a few kids in particular (the Vader Fan/I don't like girls kid, the teeny girl holding hands and hugging everyone repeatedly, the little serious kid that talked like a 50 year old Harvard Professor who was determined to collect all of our autographs). It wasn't as glamorous as other events we all may have been at with celebs recently, but I think I enjoyed it so much more given the appreciation that these kids had. I'm glad that we were (hopefully) able to warm them up a bit.
All in all it was a short troop - we were in costume for a little over an hour. They fed us some really yummy pizza, and were all in all just very cool to hang out with. If they ever want to do this again I'd LOVE to go in whatever costume I'm needed in (and hopefully we can get a bigger group - Wales was only about an hour's drive from Boston and is right at the CT border, near Brimfield/Sturbridge).
It was a great experience, here's my writeup from the NEG board)
I can't express how much I was touched to be a part of this event. I had never heard of Wales, MA much less knew where it was. We arrived to find a smallish school, kind of like one large room. Classrooms were made by making dividers of file cabinets, cubicle walls, etc. Also, the place was not heated! Apparently the town budget isn't allowing for that right now. Mike's friend informed us that oftentimes the kids sit in class with sweaters and/or jackets to keep warm during the day (so last night was no exception). Its just so very sad for me to see this, living in a city that's got a lot of $ to throw at schools (we have a lot of commercial real estate that pumps the taxes that go to the schools). We're building new schools right now and have crazy resources for extracurricular programs (music, the arts, sports) and these poor kids don't even have heat. It was inspiring to see and hear of the kind of things that the kids and teachers do despite these barriers and it was nice to be able to give them something extra. To see the excitement in these kids faces you'd guess that the cold just didn't bother them.
It was a family movie night, and the kids came in PJs, SW costumes and brought their sleeping bags and pillows along. I'd say the ages ranged from 1st grade up to 5th (with parents/siblings). There was a social hour where they got to hang out with us, and there was candy, popcorn, soda and raffle prizes to be had (after which they snuggled up to watch ROTJ). Early on the kids kept trying to sneak into our dressing room while we were getting ready, and the first graders were all excited that Darth Vader was in *their* classroom. Once out in costume we were barraged with wide eyed smiles, lots of hugs, and requests for autographs. There were a few kids in particular (the Vader Fan/I don't like girls kid, the teeny girl holding hands and hugging everyone repeatedly, the little serious kid that talked like a 50 year old Harvard Professor who was determined to collect all of our autographs). It wasn't as glamorous as other events we all may have been at with celebs recently, but I think I enjoyed it so much more given the appreciation that these kids had. I'm glad that we were (hopefully) able to warm them up a bit.
All in all it was a short troop - we were in costume for a little over an hour. They fed us some really yummy pizza, and were all in all just very cool to hang out with. If they ever want to do this again I'd LOVE to go in whatever costume I'm needed in (and hopefully we can get a bigger group - Wales was only about an hour's drive from Boston and is right at the CT border, near Brimfield/Sturbridge).
