Many phone calls obtaining information, time accounting for donations, 3 days of shopping, hours and hours of wrapping, time scheduling and making deliveries. Was it worth it? You decide.....
In a past post I told you about Beth, a single mom who had 3 beautiful children. Let me give you an update on Beth. Beth was the first family that we delivered to, and we almost felt like this family deserved more than we were able to give at the time. So when, near the end we had a few extra dollars, I called Beth and told her that we had something else for her. I met her at a local restaurant, she was at work and she was going out to purchase lunch for the staff. I found out that Beth is a Medical Assistant and is going to school to become a Nurse. When she walked in she called my name like we had been friends forever, and when I told her we had a gift card so that she could buy her children what she wanted to for Christmas, she did not want to accept it. She said that she hopes that she can someday do for a family at Christmas ....what we did for her family this Christmas.
Our second family was Anthony with his 2 kids. Anthony did not have anything at all for his kids for Christmas. He said that he is just barely making his bills and that he explained to his kids that there would be no Christmas. To top it all off, both of Anthonys kids had birthdays in December. So we purchases both of the kids bikes for their birthday. Then we bought the teenage boy an MP3 player and some cloths. The little girl needed a coat, boots, sheets and blankets for her bed, and she wanted a littlest petshop toy. We got them everything. When we delivered the gifts Anthony's kids were not home, we actually pulled up when he was having someone take them away so that the gifts would be a surprise for them on Christmas morning. Anthony was very soft spoken and he was currently on medical leave from his job and was hoping for clearance to go back to work soon..
Our third family was Rochelle and her 4 kids from 5yrs to 14yrs. When we got to Rochelle's house she was just amazed at how much stuff we were bringing in. (Grumpy is quite the bargain shopper) The 3 younger ones were girls and were just squeeling with joy. As with all the families, our kids made each one a bag with Christmas chocolates and candy in them. So when the kids were handed the bags they all squeeled even louder. It was really cute. This family had alot of needs. Boots for all the kids, clothing was very much needed, bedding for the littlest one (we got her a whole set with the current Disney movie The Frog Price, all over it), mom needed pots and pans, son needed clothing badly. The toys they wanted were littlest pet shop, barbie head (so they could do her hair), games, and the son wanted a CD player. So that is what we got them. Rochelle had a Christmas tree with nothing under it and she asked if she could keep the presents until Christmas. We didn't have a problem with it, but those 4 kids were bursting at the seams to open them. Before we left the girls walked up to me and asked if she could give me a kiss on the cheek for adopting her family and she handed me a tin of cookies from them.
The donations kept coming in and we knew that we were getting close on time until Christmas. David found a food bank that was having a corporation match all donations on Monday. So he called, and 1800 meals were donated to a local soup kitchen.
Amazingly, the donations kept coming in so David contacted VOA and made a donation directly to them. This time it was enough to adopt 4 or 5 more families. We were not able to shop for these families so VOA calls them into their office and the families go "shopping", in the office, for some of the toys and necessities that they have available in the office, they also give them some gift cards to purchase food and maybe a few more items they need or want.
As I write this post I think of how special this experience is, and I wish that all of you could experience, just once, the feeling you get as you walk into these homes. The way these kids look at you, the hugs that you get, it is something that is unbelieveable. I hope with writing this post that you get some of that feeling. I want to say thank you for all your donations, offer of gifts (someone offered to send us their bicycle when they knew that the kids wanted them), auctions that had the money raised go to this cause, and just your true generousity in these tough times. AK members are truely a special group of people.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this. My heartfelt thanks....
Nancy
In a past post I told you about Beth, a single mom who had 3 beautiful children. Let me give you an update on Beth. Beth was the first family that we delivered to, and we almost felt like this family deserved more than we were able to give at the time. So when, near the end we had a few extra dollars, I called Beth and told her that we had something else for her. I met her at a local restaurant, she was at work and she was going out to purchase lunch for the staff. I found out that Beth is a Medical Assistant and is going to school to become a Nurse. When she walked in she called my name like we had been friends forever, and when I told her we had a gift card so that she could buy her children what she wanted to for Christmas, she did not want to accept it. She said that she hopes that she can someday do for a family at Christmas ....what we did for her family this Christmas.
Our second family was Anthony with his 2 kids. Anthony did not have anything at all for his kids for Christmas. He said that he is just barely making his bills and that he explained to his kids that there would be no Christmas. To top it all off, both of Anthonys kids had birthdays in December. So we purchases both of the kids bikes for their birthday. Then we bought the teenage boy an MP3 player and some cloths. The little girl needed a coat, boots, sheets and blankets for her bed, and she wanted a littlest petshop toy. We got them everything. When we delivered the gifts Anthony's kids were not home, we actually pulled up when he was having someone take them away so that the gifts would be a surprise for them on Christmas morning. Anthony was very soft spoken and he was currently on medical leave from his job and was hoping for clearance to go back to work soon..
Our third family was Rochelle and her 4 kids from 5yrs to 14yrs. When we got to Rochelle's house she was just amazed at how much stuff we were bringing in. (Grumpy is quite the bargain shopper) The 3 younger ones were girls and were just squeeling with joy. As with all the families, our kids made each one a bag with Christmas chocolates and candy in them. So when the kids were handed the bags they all squeeled even louder. It was really cute. This family had alot of needs. Boots for all the kids, clothing was very much needed, bedding for the littlest one (we got her a whole set with the current Disney movie The Frog Price, all over it), mom needed pots and pans, son needed clothing badly. The toys they wanted were littlest pet shop, barbie head (so they could do her hair), games, and the son wanted a CD player. So that is what we got them. Rochelle had a Christmas tree with nothing under it and she asked if she could keep the presents until Christmas. We didn't have a problem with it, but those 4 kids were bursting at the seams to open them. Before we left the girls walked up to me and asked if she could give me a kiss on the cheek for adopting her family and she handed me a tin of cookies from them.
The donations kept coming in and we knew that we were getting close on time until Christmas. David found a food bank that was having a corporation match all donations on Monday. So he called, and 1800 meals were donated to a local soup kitchen.
Amazingly, the donations kept coming in so David contacted VOA and made a donation directly to them. This time it was enough to adopt 4 or 5 more families. We were not able to shop for these families so VOA calls them into their office and the families go "shopping", in the office, for some of the toys and necessities that they have available in the office, they also give them some gift cards to purchase food and maybe a few more items they need or want.
As I write this post I think of how special this experience is, and I wish that all of you could experience, just once, the feeling you get as you walk into these homes. The way these kids look at you, the hugs that you get, it is something that is unbelieveable. I hope with writing this post that you get some of that feeling. I want to say thank you for all your donations, offer of gifts (someone offered to send us their bicycle when they knew that the kids wanted them), auctions that had the money raised go to this cause, and just your true generousity in these tough times. AK members are truely a special group of people.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this. My heartfelt thanks....
Nancy
