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A Holiday Story
Last year, Swami partnered with a St. Louis country DJ to send essential supplies to our soldiers in Iraq. Those who participated may recall the thrill of making sure these men and women were decently outfitted.
This year, I decided it was time for my Head Butler readers to have the opportunity to help others. I featured a 'charity of the day' for a week, and then I decided to color outside the lines. The spark was an email from my friend Joie, who has passed on the charity gene to her daughter Heidi.
As it happens, Heidi lives in St. Louis. And there, through an organization called The Crisis Nursery, she found a family that could use some help: A 67-year-old woman was supporting her five grandchildren--the kids' mother, presumably on drugs, was unable to take care of them herself--on her $750 Social Security check.
What did they need? Gee, start anywhere. And Heidi and her mother did. They asked friends and business associates for donations, and then--although this was direct, person-to-person charity, and none of my readers knew Joie or Heidi, and no one would get a tax deduction for helping--I put the word out on Butler.
The response was gratifying. Each kid got a winter coat and gloves, 2 shirts, a pair of sweat pants and a pair of slacks, undies, socks, toothbrushes, and one or two toys from their short list of requests. For the Grandmother: a coat, gloves, 2 pair of pj's.
And then, because the contributions keep coming, Heidi bought the family a new Dell computer with software loaded for productivity, plus some interactive games for the kids. And a printer. And a vacuum cleaner, a set of cookware and bakeware. And, so the family could have a holiday dinner, canned hams, vegetables and fixings--plus a $100 gift certificate to a grocery store for future purchases.
A few days before Christmas, the grandmother suffered a stroke. (She remains hospitalized.) Friends took in the grandchildren. But the important thing is.....every present got delivered. It took two cars, but the holiday bonanza made it intact.
Joie wrote me this morning: "This type of Christmas giving has to give these children the feeling that somehow, during a time of many uncertainties, the world can be a safe and caring place."
Here's the thing about life: It's not neat, like a "Lifetime' movie. But sometimes-- as in this bumpy, sad story--goodness breaks through, and the struggle disappears, and, for a day, people who have nothing but one another can know what it feels like to have a generous, loving band of friends. I'm in awe of Heidi for pushing on when it would have been easy to stop, I'm so grateful to Joie for thinking of the Head Butler community, and to the Butlerites--well, they got the real gift of Christmas, didn't they?
This year, I decided it was time for my Head Butler readers to have the opportunity to help others. I featured a 'charity of the day' for a week, and then I decided to color outside the lines. The spark was an email from my friend Joie, who has passed on the charity gene to her daughter Heidi.
As it happens, Heidi lives in St. Louis. And there, through an organization called The Crisis Nursery, she found a family that could use some help: A 67-year-old woman was supporting her five grandchildren--the kids' mother, presumably on drugs, was unable to take care of them herself--on her $750 Social Security check.
What did they need? Gee, start anywhere. And Heidi and her mother did. They asked friends and business associates for donations, and then--although this was direct, person-to-person charity, and none of my readers knew Joie or Heidi, and no one would get a tax deduction for helping--I put the word out on Butler.
The response was gratifying. Each kid got a winter coat and gloves, 2 shirts, a pair of sweat pants and a pair of slacks, undies, socks, toothbrushes, and one or two toys from their short list of requests. For the Grandmother: a coat, gloves, 2 pair of pj's.
And then, because the contributions keep coming, Heidi bought the family a new Dell computer with software loaded for productivity, plus some interactive games for the kids. And a printer. And a vacuum cleaner, a set of cookware and bakeware. And, so the family could have a holiday dinner, canned hams, vegetables and fixings--plus a $100 gift certificate to a grocery store for future purchases.
A few days before Christmas, the grandmother suffered a stroke. (She remains hospitalized.) Friends took in the grandchildren. But the important thing is.....every present got delivered. It took two cars, but the holiday bonanza made it intact.
Joie wrote me this morning: "This type of Christmas giving has to give these children the feeling that somehow, during a time of many uncertainties, the world can be a safe and caring place."
Here's the thing about life: It's not neat, like a "Lifetime' movie. But sometimes-- as in this bumpy, sad story--goodness breaks through, and the struggle disappears, and, for a day, people who have nothing but one another can know what it feels like to have a generous, loving band of friends. I'm in awe of Heidi for pushing on when it would have been easy to stop, I'm so grateful to Joie for thinking of the Head Butler community, and to the Butlerites--well, they got the real gift of Christmas, didn't they?
