Birch Community Services

December 23rd, 2010 found the Happy Valley Omicron Kappa Chapter of the National Home School Honor Society inside the doors of the Birch Community Service Center, ready for work. This was the most exciting meeting so far for the Honor Society this year. Today the students did not need to sit in a meeting, but volunteered instead. The Honor Society proffered three and a half healthy hours to the Birch Community Center in Portland.

To begin, Mr. Barry Birch, founder of BCS, explained the center's history to the students new to the job. He told the group that BCS reaches almost 700 families of the working poor class, aids a large number of other local outreach programs, and ships basic supplies all over the world to those who are struggling. Surprisingly, they also do not take any Federal aid. Mr. Birch gave the new students a quick tour of the warehouse, and then set them to work with the rest of the already-busy group.

The mission of the day was to sort almost fifty barrels of donated clothing, and the students went about the task cheerfully. Honestly, spending time with like-minded friends was half the fun of it all. Surely, though, lending a helping hand to this hard-working organization was a great pleasure as well. The busy students worked quickly in the chilly warehouse to finish the majority of the barrels before being called to lunch. After a quick lunch break in the warm kitchen, the youths raced to finish the few remaining barrels, and were ready for their next task.

Next, after the clothes were sorted, the founder of BCS divided the Homeschool group into two different parties. Some girls walked upstairs, where they started a more selective clothes-sorting job, while the rest of the Honor Society students began a new job. Using pallet-jacks, mops and will-power, they cleaned underneath many of the wooden crates in the warehouse. Falling potatoes, un-moveable office supplies and competitive teammates were only some of the difficulties they had to overcome. However, when their time limit ran out, and the clock struck 3:30, they knew they had accomplished a job well done for the Birch Community Center.