Merry Christmas Eve! I hope everyone's thriving during the holidays. Things around here have been crazy, interesting and well. We've finally all gotten over our colds except for a lingering cough or sniffle now and then. While I'm still at the very end of catching up, I've accomplished most of the things that have wreaked havoc in my life over the past many months....I know I have some lingering orders that I need to track down and several packages, business and personal that need to be put together and mailed. On an emotional level, I'm a work in progress, but there is progress, which I'm thankful for. Today I'm going to talk about something totally different. Something hubby, Katy and I participated in. The photo above is one that hubby took last night with katy and I and a man who lives at Dignity Village *for some reason their "official" website link isn't working this morning, but was up yesterday, so, hopefully it'll be back up shortly*.
It all started for us on Thanksgiving. Having no family here (everyone's on the east coast or in Texas), we have had a three year Thanksgiving tradition of going out to a nice restaurant for dinner then to a movie. While driving to our dinner destination, we talked about how it would be nice if we could actually do something to give for Christmas.....not money, but action....something we could personally DO to give to people less fortunate than we are. About a few weeks ago I received a call from Patrick Lumbroso. He was calling people from his mailing list in hopes of raising donations for a giving tree for kids. (I honestly don't know how I got on his list, but have been receiving his newsletters for a year or so).
As we talked, I asked him if they were having anything going on around Christmas time that my family and I could participate in....such as feeding the homeless, etc. He told me that for the past two years, on December 23, he, his wife and the teachers and kids where he teaches plan a trip to Dignity Village. They bring instruments, sing Christmas carols and provide hot chocolate and marshmallows. He immediately said that I was more than willing to combine my desire for feeding the homeless with their hot chocolate/singing date. YIKES!
My first thought, "Oh know, what have I gotten myself into." It's so like me to have these ideas that would be awesome. Unfortunately I'm a visionary as well as a horrible administrator. I can come up with awesome ideas, but often, I attempt them on my own and get trapped in the muck of details where I'm not gifted. It's nice that I'm finally realizing and accepting this at 41yrs old. Blah!
I explained to Patrick that I often got myself way in over my head with my ideas but wasn't very great with the follow through part....he laughed and said he was the same way. I started talking out my ideas, told him what I thought I'd be able to do and he promised enough workers to do the leg work. When I got off the phone, I was afraid to even bring this up to hubby who knows the emotional state I've been in and also is familiar with my over commitment issues and has seen me get in over my head more times than once.
I'd basically agreed to make phone calls to restaurants and get donations that would feed roughly 60 people. (Patrick wasn't sure of the number of homeless living in the village, it turned out to be about 35). After working it out in my head, I thought the best way to accomplish what I wanted was to call local sandwich shops to ask if they would be willing to donate 5-10 complete bagged lunches which would include a sandwich, chips and a cookie. Katy thought several of her friends would pull together and make a project out of it. On the day I started making the phone calls, after I had half the meals secured, hubby called from work. He said that he and his co workers were discussing what to get for their big boss for Xmas....(what do you get a man who has everything?!?!). Someone suggested they make a charitable donation in his name as his gift. Hubby told them about what I was attempting to do and all agreed that they would raise money for my project. I called the two sandwich shops Pogy's and the Beaverton Sub Shop and ordered the rest of the meals from them. It was nice because they had agreed to give and I was able to purchase the same amount that they donated which helped all of us! With the donated money (given on behalf of Mr. Cho at Ron Tonkin Acura), after sandwich purchases, I had $11 left which I gave to Patrick last night for his Giving Tree.
Fortunately it wasn't as cold as it has been and I was crossing my fingers that there would be no rain. I hadn't any idea what to expect. Christine, Patrick's wife told me that we would be using the community building that had a wood stove for warmth.
Katy and hubby both had gone back and forth regarding this entire thing so there was a little part of me that felt anxious, mainly because I was going it alone....with no real commitment from anyone in my family suddenly, on the day it was supposed to happen. Katy went back and forth most of the day, when hubby had mentioned he hadn't scheduled off work to come with me a couple days before, I freaked a little, reminding him that I'd told him two weeks before to mark his calendar, etc....arrgghh. He called me and said he had found someone to cover for him for a couple of hours.
Okay, this is getting way too long....
I'm going to make an album on the right column with the photos taken.
Katy decided as I was walking out the door to pick up the meals that she was coming and I'm so glad she did.
It was an incredible experience, the people were very nice, I felt honored to have been able to meet them and to see an entirely different culture. I realize how blessed I am. One interesting thing, something happened and Patrick's team weren't able to give their hot chocolate. The meals that katy and I gathered, that were given so generously by caring people fed an entire community last night.
oxox
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