Mom and I took another trip to Art Vincent's and Operation Vanessa this morning. Today was distribution day! It was hectic and tiring - but we were both really surprised to see just how much of the clothing and supplies were gone by the end of the day. Mom and I made it a point to be sure that everyone left with one of the great fleece hats... We so much want to see people all over the coast wearing them - it would be something of a tribute to the efforts of the great Minnesota folks who put all of this together for us. Besides, they really do keep the ears warm...
Another pleasant little surprise came in the morning when we arrived... Last night I received a call from Suzanne -- one of the wonderful people Mom and I had met during our previous trip to Operation Vanessa... She said that she and her friend Corinne (I hope that they will both forgive me for mispelling their names!) had gathered some toys for our two year old & some for the boys as well for Christmas and they would drop it off at Mr. Vincent's for us. I was so touched to find the bags of toys from these kind ladies who had driven all the way from Bay Saint Louis to make their delivery! What GREAT people! Arriving at the same time that morning was a group of ladies who said that they were in great need -- and looking for toys for the children of their extended family. I led them to the bags because I knew that my new friends would understand. For Yvonne I gathered a small bag with hair ties, sunglasses, a pair of new shoes, and a stuffed Minnie Mouse wearing a backpack that I knew she would adore... and the rest I let go with the ladies this morning -- hopefully to brighten a few other childrens' Christmases.
A huge hug and thank you to Suzanne and Corinne (or Susanne and Coreen -- or Suzane and Corine -- You know who you are!!!) for such a sweet gesture. We love you!
The theme for the day was toys, apparently. All day long as volunteers and people in search of assistant arrived at the distribution site - the question of the day was: "Do you have any toys?" Unfortunately, all we had was gone within the first hour or so of the day. I could feel the disappointment in people when we explained that we had no toys.
We came home before dark and Mom dropped me off at home after a quick cup of coffee with us. I immediately busied myself trying to clean the sheetrock dust off the floor of the dining room -- one of the only rooms left with a finished floor -- to make a spot for the Christmas tree. I had probably scrubbed about three square feet when the doorbell rang. Our neighbor from down the street introduced herself. Her name was Tina and she lived in the beautiful new house under the oak tree -- the one they had just finished building before Katrina swept through and destroyed it all. She was wondering if we could help her -- she had a lot of donated toys and wanted to find someone who could use them... She said she had heard that we had small children and thought perhaps we needed them for Christmas. I was speechless for a few moments and simply gestured toward the 'Operation Vanessa' sign in my front yard and babbled incoherently until I was able to spit out: "I know just the place to bring them!"
I ran back inside to call Art and make sure it would be okay to drop the toys off tonight and then dashed down the street to pick up several large bags worth of brand new toys as well as two bags full of brand new stuffed animals. I rushed to explain to Tina as much as I could about MinnesotaHelpers and Operation Vanessa and we continued to talk for several more minutes -- exchanging stories of our Katrina-related trials and tribulations. Finally, once the mini-van was loaded I asked, "Who do I say these are from?" And she answered with a smile, "These are from the employees of Chevron."
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