Parents' Night Out was a success. The metrics I depend on to measure such things have nothing to do with good business practices. It is not about donations, although a couple who came for the first time gave one. It is not about the service hours logged by seven teenagers. Neither is it about the budget our chef managed to keep, feeding fifty people with a hundred bucks. I am terrifically grateful that all families were successfully reunited at the end, although several kids announced they did not want to go home. As a bonus, all shoes were claimed. 

It worked because of the connections. I enjoyed chatting with other caregivers, and with parents as they dropped off their little ones. Some had made reservations at a favorite spot, while others were too swamped to have even called. They would either flop at home or go to an eatery and hope for the best. One dad hit it out of the park by planning an escape night for his wife and two friends who were also leaving their kids. For fifty minutes they solved clues and collaborated as a team to open locked doors. This was of course at the precise time we were trying our utmost to foil any escape attempts by their children. 

I enjoyed being with the kids, and listening to them. I asked one boy about his last birthday party and whether lots of friends had come. His sister shook her head.

"He doesn't have any friends," she mouthed. 

These events happen once a season. The next time will be in late December, so that parents can make Christmas dreams come true. Or at least get a nap. All told we care for a swarm of kids for a grand total of twelve hours a year. It sounds kind of piddly when I say it like that, and yet there it is. And from the responses I get, it matters. 

Next week there will be a celebratory event for the mentoring program. Fifty four of the seventy participants will come together for a fancy dinner and door prizes. But the real gift was the time spent as a quartet, two couples talking. The agreement was an hour a month for half a year, though some mentioned that they stretched it to two, or are continuing into the second half of 2018. Twelve hours, for many of them, was the total investment, or rather will be. And yet... and again I am relying on anecdotal evidence... it worked. 

Sometimes an article will show up in my phone, and will promise that it is a 2 minute read. Often that is enough to entice me. While I have never timed my readers, it seems plausible that these messages are a similar length. Two minutes a day. Thirty times a month. It adds up to twelve hours a year. 

This fall we will begin a fresh marriage group. For ninety minutes eight or twelve people will gather over a period of six weeks. Including travel time it's an investment of twelve hours. 

I'll let you know if it works. That is if I can find a yardstick.