Nov 9, 2010-I knew this day would be a blessed day as I started collecting 3 bags of donations from a friend Sally in Seaside. It's support from our community like her that will make this ongoing effort work. Today was the day to set out on our first delivery mission to help a few organizations. First, we headed to FWB to the Okaloosa Coalition on Homeless. This organization has transitional housing for homeless families which helps them get back on their feet. They house 13 families every 9 months. Right now they have 20 children and 19 adults residing in their housing. We dropped off approx 10 bags of clothing for all ages and a few boxes of household items they needed. Our wonderful friends there were so excited about receiving the items we brought, especially being a night where all residents were meeting and they were going to get to go through and pick out whatever they wanted. It was really neat. If you are interested in helping I have a list of items they need on a regular basis.
Next we headed to fill Courtney's Thanksgiving Bag for church, then to every thrift store on Hwy 98 looking for size 14 shoe for a father in need. No luck on that, but another pray was answered when Courtney called a friend to borrow a trailer. Not only did he have a trailer, he had the mattress I had prayed would come across my path before 3 oclock. My wonderful friend Courtney helped me coordinate a trailer and get items to be donated. Chance and I headed out this evening to visit the Single father of 6 boys that I have been posting about on my Facebook. When we pulled up with bags of clothing, a dresser, mattress etc. the kids ran to our car jumping on the trailer with excitement. I pulled out a bag of snacks which were gone in seconds.Unloading the mattress, we all realized it was a queen and it would not fit on the bunk bed they had, he needed a full.We put the mattress back on trailer and promised to bring the right size in a day or so. Meanwhile, the boys were digging through the bags of clothing with excitement claiming their finds. I noticed we were missing the 6th boy! Just as I stood back thinking, wow this single dad is doing this on his own, he explained the mom left a year ago and the child missing was his boy with Down Syndrome which stays in a hospital bed and has a traq in his throat. It took all I had not to break down. Not only was this a single father raising 6 boys; ages 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, he had one with special needs. This is why I say "There is always someone out there dealing with worse things than you." I gave credit to the father and told him what a wonderful man he was. My husband and I struggle every day with 5 kids in our household, I can't imagine having 6 with just one of us and one being physically and mentally challenged. I got in the car and began to cry.
Quickly I dried my eyes, as Chance decided to pull up to a little boy standing in front of his trailer. Chance said, "Let's stop here and see if they could use a mattress." I got out to ask the little boy if his parents were home and if they could use this mattress. The mother ran out, "Yes, yes, for sure, we could definitely use a mattress." She then explained she was a single mother of 7(SEVEN) kids. Her children age from 3 months to 8 years old. I asked what all she needed and she replied, "A few more mattresses. All I have is 2 twin mattress and the new queen you gave me." I wanted to make sure I heard her clearly, "You mean you have ONLY 2 twin mattresses in your home for you and 7 kids?" "Yes" she said. "We were in a fire and lost it all." I continued to make notes of things she needed as she went into detail on how 2 of the kids are needing surgery for different things and that Medicaid would pay for it but she doesn't have gas to get to the hospital. We took care of that. She then looked up and said "God, I can't believe you all are here and just out of no where!" I replied "Your right it is God that is at work and we are going to help you." I gave her a big hug and told her she was not alone. As a few of the little boys stood around me I asked "Can you think of anything else you need right now?" The little 4 yr old tugged on my shirt as he looked up at me and said "Can you bring me another bed?" I almost fell to my knees "Yes, baby boy, I will bring you another bed."
I was shocked that here I asked to bring them anything and he asked for a bed. We all daily want this and that and we all talk about what we DONT HAVE, when we should look at what we do have. It's really not that bad if you step back and look at what you do have! As you get in or out of your bed each day remember what a blessing that mattress is and how many are sleeping on floors. Maybe in 3rd world countries we could understand how but here in American I can not fathom.
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