“I’m so bored,” Sarah sighed, flopping dramatically on the couch.
Sarah’s mother looked up from her book, and asked, “Have you finished all your classwork?”
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Sarah’s school had transitioned to online learning. She met with her class twice a day on her dad’s office computer, but did most of her work by herself, sitting cross-legged on her bedroom floor.
“Yeah. Mr. Pacheco even gave me some extra work and I finished that, but he doesn’t want me to get too far ahead of the rest of the class,” Sarah replied.
Sarah’s father was in the kitchen, baking banana bread. “Why don’t you give Grandma a call? She’d love to hear from you,” he suggested.
Sarah sat up. It wasn’t a bad idea. “Okay,” she said, “I just wish I could see Grandma. Like at her house.”
“We know, sweetie,” said her father, handing Sarah the phone, “But remember, you’re helping to keep Grandma safe by staying home, so more people don’t get sick.”
Sarah nodded, and walked to her room, dialing Grandma’s phone number.
Later, Sarah emerged from her room, with a big grin. “Grandma had a great idea!” she told her parents, “I should volunteer at the food depot!”
Her parents looked at each other.
“We’ll have to talk about that…” her father said nervously, a small frown creasing his brow.
“So long as she’s careful,” her mother responded, “If we take a lot of precautions, it should be fine.”
Sarah squeezed her father in a big hug. “Please, Dad? I’ll be really, really, really careful!”
He smiled and tousled Sarah’s hair, “Okay. We’ll figure something out.”
A week later, Sarah left the house with her father. They drove across town to the food depot, a big brick building that reminded Sarah of her school. They carefully put on masks and went inside, where a middle-aged woman with wild red hair met them.
“Hi! You must be Sarah?” she waved, staying six feet away to stay safe, “I’m Alex. Nice to meet you in person, Greg!” she said to Sarah’s father.
She showed them into a giant kitchen. The shiny silver countertops gleamed under bright lights. Alex gestured at a tall, young man, and an older couple saying “This is Sam, and that’s Anita and Kamal.”
They waved at each other, across the large room. It felt weird to stay six feet away from everyone, but Sarah reminded herself that they were just keeping everyone safe. As long as they didn’t get too close, no one could accidentally spread the virus to one another.
Alex showed them how to pack the food boxes they were assembling, and showed them to a station she’d set up just for Sarah and her father. They washed their hands really well, scrubbing for several minutes, and spent the next few hours there, filling cardboard boxes with cans of tuna and bags of pasta and piling fresh vegetables on top. It wasn’t exactly fun, especially because the mask made it hard to talk and it was stuffy to breathe through, but Sarah enjoyed having something to do and felt good about the fact she was helping people.
Once all the boxes were packed, Alex thanked them and asked if they would help deliver them in their neighborhood. “Yes!” Sarah cried enthusiastically before her father had the chance to answer. “Sure,” her father added, chuckling.
They carried the boxes out to the car and filled up the back of the van. Alex texted a list of addresses to Sarah’s father. She explained that they would be delivering food to elderly people, who weren’t leaving their houses because they were at-risk, and to families who had lost their jobs as everything shut down.
Sarah and her father waved good-bye to Alex, and to Sam and Anita and Kamal, and drove back to their neighborhood. Before the stopped at the first house, Sarah found a purple marker left in the back seat of the car. Her father carried the box to the front door and set it down on the stoop. Sarah took the purple marker and drew a big happy smiley face on the cardboard box. Next to it she wrote, “Stay safe!”
They rang the doorbell and then walked back to the car, to be at a safe distance. They waved to the woman who came to the door and thanked them. Sarah and her father drove to eleven more houses, and Sarah drew eleven more smiley faces and waved at eleven more thankful people. Finally, Sarah’s father turned the car towards home.
Sarah slumped in the back seat, yawning. She was tired. They pulled into their driveway. Sarah’s dad smiled as he finally pulled his mask back, saying “You did a good job today, kiddo.”
Sarah smiled back, pulling off her mask too. “Grandma was right! I do feel better now. I’m glad I volunteered today, like she suggested. Can we do it again next week?”
Her father nodded, “Sure thing.”
That night, Sarah couldn’t stop yawning as she climbed into bed. It had been a long day, but a good day. She drifted off to sleep, already looking forward to volunteering at the food depot again next week.
Discussion Questions:
What did Sarah do in her volunteer work?
Why was Sarah happy in the end?
