2014 adopted families

[Ms Grumpy]

Virgen and Eliezer's Story...Seniors...Veteran

Me and my husband only get SSI benefits and its not easy buying for the holidays as we get just enough for mortgage and bills. We would greatly appreciate any help we can get. God Bless You all !!!


Tonight I took Virgen and Eliezer shopping. What a cute couple. She talked about her children and grand children and both of them wanted to get a new outfit for Christmas because the family was having a party to welcome home their oldest grandson who was coming home for the Holidays after spending the last two years in the Air Force. They were so proud of him and their two sons who were also in the service.

Once these two found an outfit and underwear they chose to get necessities for their home, laundry soap, bleach, bar soap and shampoo. Then with the rest they chose to get food to help fill the pantry. Now when we were done I asked if they minded if I took a picture of the shopping cart to show the members of AK. It seemed like they were both uncomfortable and I assured them that I was not going to post a picture of them but Virgen said that they both felt embarrassed that they had to ask for help. I dropped talking about a picture and assured both of them that there was nothing to be embarrassed about and that the members of AK were very happy that they were able to help.

After we checked out both of them wanted me to pass on to everyone here how grateful they are especially since now they have something nice to wear when they see their grandson. They also wanted me to tell you "God Bless Everyone who has been involved in helping them. They will say a prayer of Thanks for all of you."

 

[bobabode]

Patty's sitting here wondering what her big man is blubbering about on the computer. :yes:

Don't tell the fellers around here, OK? Especially SandyG. We curmudgeons have a reputation to uphold, y'know.

 

[Ms Grumpy]

I hope some of those tears are tears of pride and joy knowing that you have made a difference in someone's life.

 

[luvvinvinyl]

I'd be more curious if you had read this thread and NOT been moved to tears. This annual event would soften even the stoniest heart. There is an amazing power to the act of directly assisting someone who needs a hand up. It goes straight to the core of who we are.

So says one who has been there.

While there are lots of worthwhile charities, a group of my fellow employees have taken a page from AK/ Ms Grumpy's book and adopted several senior families in need of some help at Christmas this year. I wonder how they got pointed in that direction? :scratch2:

 

[Ms Grumpy]

Ernie that is heartwarming to know that what we do, Adopting the Families, is spreading.

 

[Ms Grumpy]

I have finally sat down for the evening and will be up early to shop with 2 families tomorrow.

I am sorry that I have not posted more families but with my laptop giving me problems it is a challenge to write using Tapatalk on my phone. But I will post more family stories tomorrow.....promise.

 

[Inscrutable]

Ernie that is heartwarming to know that what we do, Adopting the Families, is spreading.

we've personally done this before over the years, but this year we got our neighbors to substitute this kind of thing for our own internal gift exchange. Really, how many more MooseMugs do we need?

 

[Ms Grumpy]

Debra's Story.


I just moved here 5 months ago, got guardianship of my granddaughter. She never really had a Christmas. She has had to go without a lot so I stepped up to help her. With the income I do have I try to make her happy.


When I first contacted Debra she had told me that her car was not drivable so I offered to pick her up to go shopping. On Saturday morning I drove to her townhouse, only getting lost once. When I got there I met a very soft spoken woman who told me about the tough life that her granddaughter has been subjected to.

The granddaughter, we will call her Jane, actually has a younger brother who is also being cared for by another family member. When Jane lived with her mother she would be left alone countless times while her mother went out. Jane would have to take care of her little brother who was still in diapers. Debra told me of one time that she went to her daughters place only to knock on the door and hear this tiny voice ask "who is it"? She told Jane"it is grandma" and when the door was opened the stench was aweful because the baby had been in the same diaper for what looked like it could have been days.

Debra immediately filed for guardianship of her granddaughter. Because Debra suffers from debilitating back pain she knew she could not care for the baby and that is when another family member stepped up.

Jane started school unable to talk and has gone through 3 yrs of speech therapy. She is still behind in her learning but she is making progress with grandmas love, patience and understanding.

I do not have a picture with this family because I knew that Debra was in pain near the end of our shopping trip but I can tell you that she wanted everything for her granddaughter and no gifts for herslf. We bought paint, art supplies, construction paper, a baby doll (something the granddaughter wanted so she could love), a bracelet making kit, socks, wrapping paper and more. We also bought this family a cold air humidifier. Jane has asthma and the winters in the dry cold air are very hard on both Jane and Debra. A doctor had suggested that she purchase one she just never had the money.

There was a lot more to this heartbreaking story but this family does have a bright future thanks to AK members. When I dropped Debra off she hugged me and asked that I thank each and everyone who helped her family.

 

[Inscrutable]

This story struck a nerve - it is eerily extraordinarily similar to that regarding the adoption of our daughter - she and her sister were the kids in this story, her sister being 'Jane'. I hope these kids also get a better life with the new hand they've been dealt.

 

[Ms Grumpy]

I still keep in contact with some of the families that AK has adopted. I did tell Debra that I would love to hear how her and Jane were doing in the future. I think that Jane has a chance now that Debra is caring for her.

 

[Ms Grumpy]

Janae and Miguels story....

I wish to be adopted because I want to give my children a Christmas this year. Currently we only have one income in our family and it is very hard to give my children what they want and need. I only bring home about 600-630 bi weekly and I am just meeting the bills. I just completed my class for CNA and in January I will be testing for LPN. It would really be a blessing if I could receive the help. Thank you and God Bless.

I don't know where to start because this couple was just so sweet. They were high school sweethearts and married young. I spent 2 hours with this couple and could tell how much they value family and how much they are still in love. They have been married for over 8 yrs, she is 27, he is 26 and they have a 6 yr old daughter and 3 1/2 yr old twin boys.

The primary bread winner in this family is Janae and Miguel is taking care of the kids and home. He has been trying to get a job that is opposite hours of Janae but he is having a hard time. They have one vehicle but unfortunately in September they were in a car accident on the way to take their kids to school and it took out most of the front end. They have no headlights so they cannot drive at night and they have been told that the frame is slightly bent and they cannot afford to fix it right now.

I had spent about 15 minutes talking to them about how the money is raised and how giving the members of AK are. While we were talking she told me that she had sat her kids down last week and told them that Santa Claus would not be coming to their house for Christmas. That Santa was really busy, and even though they were good kids, he wasn't going to be able to come to their house. Then the next day I called her to tell her that her family was being adopted by us.

During our shopping trip it was wonderful to see how excited both of them got when they picked up a toy and talked about how excited their kids would be when they opened them on Christmas morning. They wanted to make sure that each one of them got what they really wanted.

 

[Ms Grumpy]

The twin boys love to play basketball. And this was the perfect gift for them. When Janae and Miguel figured out that the price of the basketball hoop was for two of their kids it was a no brainer that they picked it up.

Another important thing to this couple was making sure that learning toys were something that they looked at. These two VTech computers fit right into teaching the boys letters, numbers and some spelling. The toy in the backround was another gift that would work great for the boys since one was a Batman fan and the other was a Superman fan.

What little boy doesn't like Monster Trucks, especially ones that were remote control Monster Trucks. Mom and Dad liked it because it came in a two pack.

Trying to find a learning toy for the 6 1/2 yr old was a challange. That is until we came across this simple tablet. The cost of this compared to a Barbie computer (which my grand daughter had at one time and she was bored with it), this tablet was only $10 more and had the possibility of so much more than the Barbie computer.

 

[Ms Grumpy]

We were not done. When we had almost reached out budget I asked them if they wanted/needed anything. Both looked at me and said "No". They just wanted the kids to have a Christmas. I think at this point we all had tears in our eyes and we weren't done.

I made sure that they had wrapping paper and as we were walking toward the register Janae asked if there was enough money so that she could get a little bottle of bleach. So we walked over and we picked up a big bottle of bleach, laundry soap, cleaning supplies, dish soap and sanitizer (important with flu season here and 3 little kids).

As we were getting ready to get into line Janae told me about how about a month ago she got a call from someone wanting to adopt them. Well at that time her phone had been turned off because she couldn't afford to pay the bill. When she did get her phone back on, about a week later, she called the person who wanted to adopt her and they told her that she was too late. She was not going to adopt them. It broke my heart to think that she thought her family would have a Christmas and then it was pulled out from under them because she couldn't pay her phone bill. Now I know why she called me back so fast.

When we got into line to cash out both of them could not stop saying how blessed they were to have us come into their lives. Many, many Thank yous were said. And when the total came up over budget both of them started going thru all the toys talking about what they needed to put back. I told them to stop that it was OK...we were not putting anything back. And we didn't. This was probably the most over budget that I ever went but I just felt that it was the right thing to do.

As we said our goodbyes I couldn't help but cry. This couple touched my heart. Here are two very special people who are so much in love. They just want to take care of their family and make sure that the kids are happy.

I just want to say Thank you for giving me the opportunity to meet this couple.

 

[toomuchvinyl]

All of these stories are very heartwarming and the folks that were chosen are a fine mix of young, old, 2 parent and single parent families. I'm proud to be a member of this group and also very happy to participate this year. It won't be the last.

And thank you Ms. Grumpy for taking on the task of representing AK in this endeavor.

 

[Ms Grumpy]

We picked up 4 more families this morning. I have already shopped with one this morning and have 2 scheduled for tonight.

Grumpy also made a donation directly to VOA this morning. It should be enough for VOA to give 4 more families a Christmas.

I will keep going as long as we have the money to do so.

 

[Ms Grumpy]

I ended up getting a call from the 4th family around 5pm. I asked if she could meet me at 10:30pm at the store and she was happy to do so.

So Tuesday I shopped at 12 noon, 5pm, 8pm and 10:30pm. Funniest part is that it was at 4 different locations. Good thing that my little car gets 40mpg. Lol

 

[Ms Grumpy]

This morning, Tuesday 12-23-14, grumpy called VOA and made another donation.

The donation this morning was because of the last minute burst in donations. The donation this morning is enough to give 5 more families presents under their tree Christmas morning.

If we get a last minute boost tonight I am willing to shop more tomorrow.

 

[Ms Grumpy]

I have been so crazy busy but I wanted to say that because of your generosity and last minute boost of donations AK was able to make a last minute donation to adopt families.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

P.S. We will continue to work with people through the first of the year. So if you still have items to auction we can still help more families.