My suspicions were confirmed that 8th grade boys are in fact capable of eating a brownie, a Christmas cookie and a donut at 10:00 on a Wednesday morning; however, what I came to recognize was just how compassionate and hard working they can be too. I witnessed this at the With Love warehouse as they diligently filled holiday ‘stockings’ with toys for children in foster care. They even tied them up with a neat little bow!

For the third year in a row, 8th grade students from Our Lady of the Lake school in Lake Oswego spent a morning in the With Love warehouse taking part in the annual ‘stocking stuffer’ event.

Allie Roth began the morning welcoming the students and chaperones, explaining the mission and inspiring history of With Love. She also educated the volunteers, citing startling statistics about children in foster care in the community. She emphasized how their time filling holiday stockings would bless so many families and children.

Instructions were given, toys were distributed and the students were divided up among the tables, eager to work.

Representatives from Churchhill Mortgage and Nike Creative design team also participated and sponsored the event; It is truly a task people of all ages and life stages can come together and do.

What stockings looked like in 2014 before Nike stepped in to help out.

With Love’s stocking stuffer event has been taking place since 2013. In years past, stockings were crafted and donated by Nike design team. This year they created pillow cases, which are more practical for continued use throughout the year. Each pillowcase was custom made and unique.

After filling each pillow case with twelve brand new donated toys, each one was lovingly secured with a beautiful ribbon and gift tag.

Filling these bags was certainly a team effort.

Throughout the holiday season, companies, teams and groups of all ages and sizes came together to help in the warehouse.

Drives from all over Portland provided the toys for the bags; the generosity of so many communities enabled over 760 kids to be served this holiday season.

The bags were given out in deliveries, Foster Parent Night Out events and DHS parties.

Intentional Espresso even came out to provide an extra shot of energy to the many volunteers in the warehouse this year!

There was holiday music, laughter, and smiles all around. It was a festive and joyful place to be.

On that wintery Wednesday morning, the 8th graders mastered the art of tying a perfect ribbon; they also learned what it means to work hard to provide joy for someone else.

Allie debriefed at the end of their volunteer time, asking students to share what they learned.

One boy said he never realized how many foster children were in Oregon.

Another didn’t know what dignity meant until this morning after the conversation about it.

Allie invited them to come back to volunteer in the warehouse, suggesting that even picking up a bag of laundry, washing it and returning it would count for volunteer hours if they needed or wanted them!

(One chaperone lovingly reminded the students that if they did this, they had to be the one to wash the clothes, not their parents! :)

The children cheered when they were told they filled over 400 holiday stocking that morning alone. They then filed out (grabbing another Christmas cookie or two on their way) and headed back to continue their school day.

These students learned something that they could not achieve by simply reading a textbook or hearing a teacher lecture. They learned how to serve, and they felt the satisfaction and joy from doing it.

They experienced teamwork and the camaraderie that comes from accomplishing a task with others. They knew the gratification of hard work.

Experiences like this teach compassion and altruism, something in which there is never too much. During the Christmas season, With Love receives a flood of requests from people who want to help and volunteer. It is a season when people carve out time to give back; however, the need is year round and With Love encourages people to be a part of the With Love volunteer team beyond just the holidays.