My city has not seen the greatest glory years of it's past in a long, long time. The inner city is dangerous, the outer city is abandoned, and the price of homes has tumbled down into the range of the ridiculous. My city has felt like it is dying for awhile, and this terrible economy is the extra rock that will make the raft sink. I have had friends leave and move to other states just to get away from the crime and poverty here. I can't do that, though. I am a business owner and this is my home. As such, it is my responsibility to help in any way possible, so I have funded a modest soup kitchen for the last several years. It wasn't until I brought in the Christmas t-shirts last year that I started seeing people smile, though.
The tale of what we did that Christmas night to help recover some lost smiles with a few hundred Christmas t-shirts is not a long one. My wife brought the terrible conditions that many of the homeless were experiencing to my attention about five years ago. My heart broke and I tried very hard to get enough funds together to open a shelter. Those attempts failed, but I was able to open a nightly kitchen were volunteers would cook and serve food for as many hungry people came through the door. It wasn't long for me to realize that even though our help should be a reason to feel a bit of joy, no one coming is ever smiled. Not even when they thanked us.
I'm not trying to mislead anyone into thinking that this has not been the most wonderful thing in my life besides my own children and wife. Working at this homeless kitchen has been the highlight of my career and it has become almost an obsession for me to make it bigger and better every year. I have found that I really do enjoy helping people. When I told my dear wife about my disappointment in the lack of happiness at the kitchen, she just kissed me and said that the place needed some brighter color, is all. Color always makes people happy. Colors like red and green. The colors of Christmas t-shirts.
I had to find some help for this plan I was coming up with, and I had to start immediately because no one would be able to offer any assistance once the holiday shopping season starts. I run an Internet company as well, and I know what kind of insanity that is. I contacted several online t-shirt vendors and found several who were willing to help once I faxed them proof of my charity. When Christmas dinner rolled around, I was completely ready. The wife and I did some great decorations and we laid out the Christmas t-shirts within easy reach by the front door.
I must admit that I was insanely excited to see what happened. I had done all of this on a hunch and I had no idea how well it would do. The doors opened for dinner around 5pm, and the local homeless filtered in with their usual dour expressions. They barely registered the lights and other decorations we had put up, but they all halted in their tracks when they noticed the free Christmas t-shirts laid out for them. One by one, they picked a shirt out and put it on until the whole room was filled with a dazzling array of red and green...and more than a few smiles, one of which was my own.
The tale of what we did that Christmas night to help recover some lost smiles with a few hundred Christmas t-shirts is not a long one. My wife brought the terrible conditions that many of the homeless were experiencing to my attention about five years ago. My heart broke and I tried very hard to get enough funds together to open a shelter. Those attempts failed, but I was able to open a nightly kitchen were volunteers would cook and serve food for as many hungry people came through the door. It wasn't long for me to realize that even though our help should be a reason to feel a bit of joy, no one coming is ever smiled. Not even when they thanked us.
I'm not trying to mislead anyone into thinking that this has not been the most wonderful thing in my life besides my own children and wife. Working at this homeless kitchen has been the highlight of my career and it has become almost an obsession for me to make it bigger and better every year. I have found that I really do enjoy helping people. When I told my dear wife about my disappointment in the lack of happiness at the kitchen, she just kissed me and said that the place needed some brighter color, is all. Color always makes people happy. Colors like red and green. The colors of Christmas t-shirts.
I had to find some help for this plan I was coming up with, and I had to start immediately because no one would be able to offer any assistance once the holiday shopping season starts. I run an Internet company as well, and I know what kind of insanity that is. I contacted several online t-shirt vendors and found several who were willing to help once I faxed them proof of my charity. When Christmas dinner rolled around, I was completely ready. The wife and I did some great decorations and we laid out the Christmas t-shirts within easy reach by the front door.
I must admit that I was insanely excited to see what happened. I had done all of this on a hunch and I had no idea how well it would do. The doors opened for dinner around 5pm, and the local homeless filtered in with their usual dour expressions. They barely registered the lights and other decorations we had put up, but they all halted in their tracks when they noticed the free Christmas t-shirts laid out for them. One by one, they picked a shirt out and put it on until the whole room was filled with a dazzling array of red and green...and more than a few smiles, one of which was my own.
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