Before the new year begins, ok, it began already, I'll add to the Christmas Gift report. As with Karen, a big thank you to Mark & Amy for passing along this great gift giving tradition, something that I hope we'll consider on an annual basis. I hope you will all detail the experiences & charities you participated in etc.
Amy made us aware of the Homeless Shelters website which lists specific needs for these people-adults & children. I read in the paper that each night it takes care of 1,000 people to provide them with a warm place to sleep out of the cold. We have eaten for years at the Rio Grande Cafe downtown (good mexican food) and driven past that shelter countless times. We've seen people lined up all the way around the block, waiting to be let in. The the day we all went down there, the line had already formed & it was early afternoon!
The items that were most critically needed on the "Road Home" website were highlighted & also in bold letters. With that list in hand, Dad & I went to the friendly Smiths Marketplace downtown to make use of our employee discount to purchase some clothing. I had already used a special discount day-20% off to employees at our store in Bountiful & purchased sheets & 2 dozen very warm & long heavy socks-the kind used for hunting outdoors etc. So we discovered a wonderful sale on quilted, insulated flannel shirt-jackets. They requested very large sizes and we were able to find several XXXL to buy. It was very sobering to us when we figured out that each heavy jacket cost us $13. Hmm, $13 to keep another person warm. We drop that at Hires for burgers. We took advantage of our great find & filled our cart up to overflowing.
We had those items piled downstairs for several days & each time I walked by them I thought how important it was to contribute in some way to help the homeless in our community without judging the whys & who's.
When we went downtown to drop off our things with Mark & John and all their families, we certainly knew it was a right thing to be doing and we need to stop & participate in such activities more than once a year.
We are blessed with the comforts in life. In this very cold season, I find myself impatiently waiting for my heated seat to get hot in my car! How much do we all take for granted?
Certainly it falls on each of us to share our time, talents & energy to pay back to the rest of our fellowmen. Thank you for supporting this "new" tradition. What a wonderful group of caring & loving people our children & their families have become. We love & pray for you all daily.
We know that the Savior knows each one of us & is mindful of our needs & desires to do good with our lives.
Merry 2008! I'll ask Dad to forward some pictures since he's in charge of that department (after 41 years you have to know your talents).
http://picasaweb.google.com/luvbike/FamilyChristmasProjectForTheHomelessShelterDecember2007
Love, Mom & Dad VH; G-ma & G-pa too!!
No comments:
Post a Comment