About a month ago it was brought to our attention that there were quite a few families in a rather poor community East of us that were really struggling; this is a farming town with lots of families that work as 'pickers'.
This area has always been known as the 'poor' area; but they were even more devastated after hurricane Irma. We were told that the kids were wearing clothes to school that clearly were not meant for them, shoes that were way to large to be for them.
One of Coach's softball players lives in this area and she was telling him about how some families were down to having so little.
The Coach was touched by this and asked her if she could get us some family names and wants/needs lists from these families.
Well, it took her a few weeks, but she (along with her Mom and some school teachers) came up with 15 families that really needed help.
We got the lists and started asking good friends to help us with this endeavor. We sent 5 family lists to our peeps on the East coast in Jupiter. The Coach and I took on 6 families and I shared the rest with some local friends/family.
Most people asked for clothes, cleaning supplies, personal supplies. (deodorant/soap/shampoo)
Some asked for beds, as a lot of them sleep on the floor. We were lucky enough to have several beds donated; but not enough. Some got beds, all got sleeping bags and pillows though.
It was a huge undertaking that took weeks to get together before we could all meet one morning in their neighborhood to distribute. Coach skipped practice that morning and most of his girls with parents showed up to help distribute everything. It was what I call organized chaos. We had about 30 volunteers to help get everything moving.
From 8am to 10:30 two truck loads were given away to deserving people.
Most of the children could not contain their joy to receive new clothes, shoes and things as simple as a basketball or doll.
No pics of the families as I didn't want to put them out there on the web.
A few pics of us loading one truck the night before in our garage.
We labeled all the items by family name; some had larger piles than others depending on how many kiddos they had.
I was shocked we were able to get so much in one truck. There was another truck that was full of furniture.
The Coach and I, along with our friends were so pleased at how this all turned out.
For it is in giving that we receive.
-Francis of Assisi
God bless you, Suz. It is amazing how much just one person can do to spur giving to others in need when someone decides to take the bull by the horns. God bless you. I know you didn't do it for the accolades or thank you...but thank you anyway. xo Diana
ReplyDeleteI know that seeing the joy in the faces of the children was thanks enough, but I would like to say thank you also. God bless each of you who responded to this need. xoxo
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that all of you could help out people in your area who needed a helping hand. Thanks to one and all for being such amazing angels.
ReplyDeleteKudos to all of you for doing more than lip service. What a wonderful thing to give families the very things they need most.
ReplyDeleteThis just brought tears to my eyes!! What a wonderful thing for you guys to do.
ReplyDeletePraise God! We often forget how much we are blessed when we see that others need the simplest things for living. So thankful there are compassionate people in the world like your family who are willing to organize this as well as give of your time and resources. I know it has impacted you greatly especially at this holiday time of year!
ReplyDeleteWow! What a sense of accomplishment! It's so sad to think that there are people out there still without so much.
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