Today was another day full of preparation for First Night! This morning Yuan Gao - known by Karen here in America - spent a few hours in our office making trail mix and cubing cheese to be served in the Green Rooms at the First Night venues. Volunteers, entertainers and crew take some time to relax and grab a bite to eat in the Green Rooms. I'm sure they aren't as fancy as they are in Hollywood!This afternoon, Karen continued her work in helping set up chairs at the Missouri United Methodist Church and First Christian Church along with Jon Culver, Allison Van Riper and Stephanie Hart. We made quick work of things setting up more than 300 chairs in two locations in less than an hour and a half. Oh, and in there Jon swept the floor, too! Thanks to these volunteers for sharing their afternoon to help with this important, but not so glamorous, project!
Karen (Yuan Gao) is very interesting to me. I met her in September when she volunteered to help at the Festival of the Arts. She had moved to Columbia just a month earlier from China to attend school at MU. I was just flabbergasted at the thought of this young lady, moving half way around the world to a place she's never been where they speak a language that's different from your own. (She speaks excellent English by the way.) She's a brave young woman and an excellent volunteer! Karen is another example of someone who has used volunteering to get to know her new home. She will be the site manager at the Methodist Church tomorrow evening and I know she'll do a great job.
