Allison Knubowitz

At beautiful lives boutique, I went through orientation and learned all about the business, and was given a tour of the store. After, I tagged prices on items in bins and hung them up by category. Also, I was able to work in the front of the house and I assisted customers in dressing rooms, put the "go back" clothing items back on the floor, cleaned dressing rooms, put new merchandise on the floor, and sorted the items by category, color, and size. I reorganized the skirt rack and went through each one to make sure they were in the correct place.

I donated 5 cans of food off the RHMC wishlist .

We woke up early and 20 to 30 people gathered in downtown Dallas to make thanksgiving dinners to pass out. We made about a 1,000 meals and then delivered them across the Dallas area to people who had previously requested a meal. I helped make individual jelly cups and slice pies into slices and wrap them individually. We all created an assembly line putting turkey, vegetables, pie, jelly, and bread into a container and lastly cutlery.

I woke up at 6 to drive to downtown Dallas on Christmas morning where this organization helps feed the homeless. They hire 6 food trucks and we went to only 2 different locations this year because there were so many people and they just kept coming until the trucks ran out of food. This year they had 2 different food trucks than past years and the owner asked me to work inside. I worked in a taco truck and I was in charge of putting the toppings on and the sauces and then handing them out the window and tried to keep up with demand as well as I could. At the next location since i was really hot inside the food truck and needed a break i walked around handing out hundreds of pairs of socks, water, fruit, pre-made salads, clothes, gloves, cookies toys for the kids, hand sanitizer, bags to carry everything home in, and so much more. I really enjoy doing this event every year because it feels like i made a difference in a small way to myself but in a large way to my community.

I got to the center and first visited the dogs and puppies I took out a dog named Cobbler who I fell in love with and spent time with her outside we played fetch and I learned that she knew the command hug. When I said hug she would put both paws on both my shoulders and which ever way my face was she turned her head and gave me kisses on my face and it was adorable. After, I took out Aregone (I'm not quite sure how to spell his name) but he was a lot bigger than I thought he was but so gentle and sweet. When i put them back I filled up their water bowls and moved to the cat room. I went to the cat room and there were people looking in ht large room so i waited till i left and then took out Misty who i was surprised was still there from last week. When i let her out i let her roam in the room by herself for a while because she's in a cage all day i just wanted her not to be so confined or touched for a little. Misty is so sweet and she loves to be held like a little baby and she's 7 years old its adorable and she continues to be my favorite cat. I played with smokey afterwards who was a little standoff is and not in the mood to come out of his cage to I rubbed him a little in the cage and then got some toys in his cage and just played with him in there so he would feel comfortable. I closed his cage and went to Maisie who was a tiny little kitten who shared a cage with Windy who didn't want to come out of her cage or be touched and was most likely because her sister was adopted while I was there. Several people came to look at Maisie and I stayed till closing time but she wasn't adopted but I have a feeling she won't be there long because she's very playful and cute. For most of my time in the cat room i assisted the people who came to look at the cats and fielded the questions I could answer.

I started with the dogs and I took out Siren who loves to play with tennis balls and even would bring them back most of the time and knew how to sit. Next I took out Arwin who was so kept watching the other dogs and didn't even know I was there running around him throwing tennis balls but was very sweet dog who was tired after running back and forth and i got to sit and play with him. After I put Arwin in his cage I gave treats to Siren for her listening skills and some to Arwin because he was cute. I went back in the yard and cleaned the area I was in of the dog poop and picked up big sticks so the dogs wouldn't step on them. Next I went to the cat rooms and I started with one of the big play rooms and Pecan(cat) was the most playful and it was nice to see that 4 of 5 cats were adopted. When I went to the big cat room where there are usually about ten or more cats there were only three and one was adopted. So I played with Misty(orange cat) who was so sweet and loved to be pet but also enjoyed her along time out of the cage.

I arrived at Beautiful Lives boutique on Friday and immediately went to help in the back. I checked clothes for stains and had to get them cleared for sale by the manager and I steamed lots of pants, shirts, jackets, and dresses. I also helped lint roll the clothes and used cleaning wipes for stains. I helped fill up the steamer machines when they no longer had water in them as well as put the clothes into two groups tops and bottoms and then put them with the right sizes within those groups.

After my dog training that I had that ended at 4:30 I decided to stay and play with the animals but since the outside area was flooded with water from the storm the day before i played with the cats inside instead. I played with to little baby kittens Dude and Ace. They would jump so high when I swung the toys around. I also played with Fred who starts meowing at you when you walk in the room because he loves to be out of his cage and with people. When i but him back I got out Eli who has a brain disorder which caused him not to walk straight which . He would walk and stumble around which makes him a cat that can't be on elevated surfaces. I would put he toys in front of him and he would completely miss but it was adorable. I took out dude again after I put back Eli because he was just do tiny, cute, and loved to play.

I drove to Downtown Dallas at 6'oclock Christmas morning to Mount Carmel Baptist church, when i got there me and several others starting separating the bags of brad into little bags. Also i cut up about 150 pies and put each slice into a ziplock bags. Then I started bagging and separated the other deserts like cupcakes, muffins, croissants, and much more. The group went to four different locations giving out the bread, deserts, clothes that were donated, and toiletries. The foundation rents out 5 food trucks as well and and gave out free food to all the homeless people in Downtown Dallas. Next i passed out hundreds of waters and brought people food on the street who weren't able to walk to get their own food. Towards the end someone had donated games and i passed them out to al the kids i could find.