It’s February, snow falls on the ground outside, temperatures drop below freezing, and I wait. I wait for the next customer to come through my lane in the local grocery store. The peanut butter and jelly food drive is being orchestrated through the store. All of the money donated is used to buy peanut butter and jelly for children in need. I talk to my coworkers every now and then, but they don’t seem interested in participating. Only one other person is of any competition to me.

I tally up the donations I received today: one dollar, five, ten…I clock out and give my tallies to my manager.

 “Good job, Sophie! You’re in the lead,” she says. 

I smile and walk by, heading out to the car. 

The next day, the food drive has come to an end and the results are tallied. I feel that my hard work has paid off. No matter what place I get, I am proud about collecting money for a meaningful cause. The thought of helping kids who need food makes me feel like I have an impact on the community. 

It’s between me and one other girl for first place. The winner is said to get a prize for their hard work and that excites me too. 

My manager calls me and the girl over. She says, “I know you are both excited to find out who got first place. Congratulations, Katrina!” 

As I look at Katrina’s smiling face, I am not surprised. Katrina is one of the hardest working people at this grocery store. I am happy she won, she is more than deserving of the prize. 

“Sophie, since the results were so closely matched we want to give you a prize, too.”

My manager tells me and Katrina to go to the floral section and pick out anything we want. We both feel honored to be rewarded for our contribution. I pick out vibrant purple flowers in a small lavender pot. She picks out a small, green succulent.

Katrina and I pose for the picture that will go up on the grocery store website, letting everyone know of all the successful donations. I think about all of the generous people in this community, and how we wouldn’t have been able to raise this much without them. It feels good to know that I was able to help those in need.