I can't tell you why exactly the Haiti earthquake affected me so deeply. I have a couple theories. One, I'm human and it was an enormous tragedy, how could you not be affected. Two, I'm a mother and seeing all those children suffering or thinking of all the mother's losing their children was enough to make me lose some sleep and count my blessings. Three, a friend of mine from college, who I haven't talked to in years but have been "keeping" up with on Facebook adopted two children from Haiti. I was so impressed by that before the tragedy. He and his wife opened their hearts up to these children and made such a beautiful family that it just always stuck with me (interestingly enough, another of my "friends" on FB adopted 2 children from Africa and I was equally as impressed (especially when you see that she had 2 or 3 other biological children!). Anyway, as soon as I heard about the earthquake I thought about my friend and how it would affect him having two children who's family and origin is from there. Well, sure enough he headed off on a mission to help in Haiti and the orphanage they adopted from was asking for supplies.
I truly felt that it was God's way of giving me the answer to, "What can I do?" I decided to work with an organization in Pittsburg that we are involved with, Young Professionals, and see if we could get some donations together and send to the orphanage. I thought I'd just set up a little booth at the mall and see what money or supplies we could receive. It wasn't a huge amount and the second day of sitting there I started to wonder if I wasted my time and could have just made my own donation for the amount I was collecting. :)
Just as I said this out loud to my friend sitting with me, a man who was deaf and was struggling to communicate with us came up and motioned for me to come outside. I went out and found a women in a van with 20 cans of formula. She had the formula and her grandson couldn't use it anymore. What a blessing for an orphanage! They had seen the little blurb in the paper and had the exact items to help. I guess I'm saying, there were a lot of relief efforts, but none focused on babies and children. The formula would have gone to waste, but this was a perfect way to help others. Within another 20 mins or so, an elderly lady came up to my friend and I and looked at the pictures I had around me. She said, "Now what exactly is this going for?" I told her and she said that's perfect. But let me tell you something before I give this to you. She went on to tell us how over a year ago she found a wallet at Walmart and turned it in (it was around Xmas time). She went back to the Customer Service to see if the owner had claimed it. The owner of the wallet had in fact returned and was relieved to have their Xmas money returned. The wallet owner left a note, "To the angel who returned our wallet, Thank you!" This woman decided she would keep that $20 and give it to a good cause because she didn't "need" the money. I began to tear up thinking, this woman held onto the $20 and the note for over a year, how many Salvation Army ringers did she pass, how many other valuable charities had she seen in the last year that maybe didn't resonate with her. But the "irony" of this Christmas "angel" giving her $20 a year later to God's Littlest Angels Orphanage in Haiti....was not lost on me. It wasn't irony in my opinion, it was my answer. "You did the "right" thing." My friend and I were both emotional as she told us her story. We really couldn't thank her enough.
Just as we were thinking about packing up for the afternoon, two women came in carrying armloads of blankets to donate. Funny enough, they said, "Is it too much?" Is it too much?!?!? NEVER! :) Junior high girls from the local Catholic school were learning to knit and put all of their practice squares together to make baby blankets. It just so happened to coincide with our fundraiser. Again, I was emotional while receiving their gift to these kids in Haiti!
Sometimes God's answers are not whispers but great big billboards! I have been so touched by the outpouring of support.
This picture doesn't include the last 3 weeks of donations that have come in at Zach and Dylan's daycare center, The Center. Monica, the director, put out a box for collection and we received at least as much if not 2x's as many donations. I will definitely post the total when I get a chance to count it all this weekend. I'm now hoping for a corporate donation of shipping costs to help me get all these great supplies to Colorado Springs (to then go in cargo containers directly to the orphanage in Haiti).
People really are good and generous!
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