It’s been a heck of a week.  Still reeling from the devastation that’s happening in Puerto Rico — and having just returned from Montana — I woke up on Monday morning to the news of the fires in Sonoma County. At first, I thought, oh yeah, fires . . . it’s that time of the year.  But then the news started coming through faster and faster — just like the fires that were spreading faster and faster.  The devastation and loss are overwhelming.  Again.

When I start feeling like I can’t breathe, I sing.  And lately, with all the news, it really is hard to breathe.  So there I was this morning, getting ready for work, singing a James Taylor classic:  “When this ol’ world starts getting me down, and people are just too much for me to face . . . ”  I wanted a roof.  Until I remembered that the air quality is horrible right now.  My classroom would have to do — and today, school would be almost as good as sitting on a roof.

Today, our entire school would be packing meals with KIDS AGAINST HUNGER — a Bay Area organization that packs meals for hungry children.  While much of their work goes into providing meals for children around the world, they also serve nearby areas.  When we arrived in the multi-purpose room, we found out that ALL the meals we’d be packing were going to go to Sonoma County.  Tomorrow.

I’ll let the pictures tell the story.  But before I do, here are some crazy stats:  Approximately 1300 middle school students packed over 40,000 meals. Yes. Middle School kids. 

If we want to save the world, we best look to the children.