two days after free 4 all

so i haven't had much time to post these until now. i came back home on saturday pooped. and after church on sunday i was still pooped. and now instead of doing my phil/econ/lings readings i figure now's a good time to start posting.

NOTE: most of the pictures are of bad quality either because i was behind a fuzzy window or i didn't use my flash. i didn't use my flash cause it's distracting and that caused the camera to automatcially use a slower shutter speed.

on our way to GT we passed by Broadway Church around 10:45ish where the other Free 4 All was taking place. they were going to open their doors at 11, but as we went by we already saw a huge line outside the building. we guessed we were to expect the same.
so........arrived at GT around 11am-ish. all volunteers were to be there early to prepare and do some last minute stuff. this is what the sanctuary looked liked before....thousands of toys....

 and here's the gym with 20 skids of food i think. it doesn't look like a lot in the picture, but its a lot. trust me.
people are taking the plastic off and unpacking the food stuffs.

 later everyone was in the gym and we packed the bags in an assembly line type thing. then registration people (thats me) were called out to get trained to use the mini-computer thingies. just as we were done learning it, we were going to go outisde and pre-register people in line with the bar code scanner thing but instead, i got called back inside cause i had to manage the songs lyrics and dvd stuff. demoted from a symbol mc-50 to a motorola walkie talkie. i didn't get to play with the high tech gadget. o well.

 the doors would be opening around 2pm and volunteers were waiting around in the sanctuary, ready to greet the guests when they enter. and of course ready to help the kids to the the front so they could get their toys. ..

 and people start to come inside!...more...and more.....and more people....(volunteers are generally white shirted while guests are the ones with balloons above their heards cause chilrden were given free balloons).

 by 2:45, the place was really filling up. there's still a long line of peope to get inside! the first picture is of people lined up outside (i know, trees) and the 2nd one is an aerial view of the lineup courtesy of google earth and mspaint. the green square is where i was standing when i took the previous picture. and the 3rd is of the place filling up even more. people started to move into the balconies, but i wasn't able to get any more big pictures cause i was busy.

 

 this next one is of Ron and Ann Mainse from Crossroads??(is that info right??) filming stuff for i assume an episode for 100 Huntley Street. this is while people were still coming in and kids were running to their mini-Christmas-morning-in-september. the next one with the red arrow is poining to Rev. Billy Fletcher from Texas i think when he was asking if the people wanted more free stuff. they answered yes. in fact, here's a video. kids were told, when the countdown got to zero, to shout as loud as they could, and then the people on the stage would throw teddy bears at them. it was crazy and fun at the same time. right click, save target as here (need quicktime and zip extractor).

 here you sort of get an idea how many people were there. and the next one with the red rectangle is just a picture of fuzzy volunteers and a fuzzy larry and bob fuzzily waiting patiently...(grr shutter speed)

 more toys and etc were given out, a few songs were sung including a special one from our church's children's choir. then Rev. Billy Fletcher explained what was happening and why it was being done. people were touched. it's one of those you-had-to-be-there-to-fully-understand moments.
all the families were then offered the free gift of salvation and the ones who accepted stood up. speechless.

 it was around this time that people were dismissed by sections to go through some doors that lead to thy gym so they could get their free bags of groceries. actually it was 4 big bags of groceries. there was a lot to give still. here we see the lineup to get out of the sanctuary and into the gym. to ensure orderliness and no stampedes occurred (thats my reasoning), everyone went out one door. Psalm 100:3

 and here we see the people getting their edible goods in the gym. those were big piles of groceries...

 a little after 5pm-ish, all the guests had left, and most of the cleanup was done. the rest of the volunteers met in the gym, discussed the fantastic happeneings of the day and what else needed to be done before we all left.

 wow. it was a very busy day. which is why i was pooped to do anything until today. Thank You God for great weather on saturday and our general safety.
i can't wait to see the videos that people filmed....