Friday, November 17, 2017

Friday, November 17, 2017

Tonight's picture was taken in November of 2005. Mattie was three years old and as you can see was building with Lincoln Logs. Mattie gravitated to design and construction. He just understood the mechanics of things at a very early age and regardless of the materials you gave him, he had no trouble developing something. Do you also notice the orange sippy cup on the table? The sippy cup was like a security blanket. Mattie never went too far without his milk. I always joked with Mattie that we should ask a cow to move in with us, that way he could have access to fresh milk on demand.  



Quote of the day: Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other. ~ Abraham Lincoln

Peter and I got up very early today, so we could get to the Uhaul company and be at the garage by 9am to start loading thousands of pounds of candy into the truck!

I assure you this job is back breaking and very labor intensive. While we were lugging 45 containers into this truck, my friend's neighbor saw us. He came over, introduced himself to us, and offered to help. That to me was a random act of kindness, and thanks to John, this truly made the process go smoothly and helped to reduce the physical stress on us. 

I thought showing a before and after photo would be helpful. This of course wasn't the FULL level of chaos in the garage. But you get the feeling for the first day of candy drop offs. Keep in mind that we received candy way past our deadline, and for a week we were inundated with drop offs.  

This is what the garage looked like after we loaded the candy into the truck!

Some delivery sites, I leave the bins, but others, I unload the candy and bring the bins back for storage, to be ready for the next candy drive. It is truly an operation.

Because of the significant amount of candy received (12,000 pounds  ---  yes 6 tons), we have to get creative with our recipients. After all, there are just so many pediatric hospitals and childhood cancer organizations we can donate to in our region. So today, a good bulk of candy went to the following places:

1. Embry Rucker Community Shelter (ERCS is a 70-bed residential shelter that provides healthy, safe, emergency housing for families and single men and women. )
2. Cornerstones (is a nonprofit organization that promotes self-sufficiency by providing support and advocacy for those in need of food, shelter, affordable housing, quality childcare, and other human services.)
3. Covenant House (has been a lifeline to over 40,000 homeless, disconnected, and exploited youth ages 12 -24 in the Greater Washington Region. As the region's largest and leading non-profit in serving homeless youth.)

The Shelter and Cornerstones were super helpful to us today. As they had volunteers assist with lifting! They made it so much easier to donate. However, Covenant House was a physical challenge as they wanted the candy stacked into their walk-in refrigerator. That first meant we had to organize what was in their refrigerator, and then lug in all the bins into the refrigerator. Peter and I managed it, and all I can say is I am happy to have this 7th Annual Candy Drive behind me. Or at least the bulk of it. I do know that 10 more bins of candy are coming into us after Thanksgiving, which I will have to process and deliver. But for now, I am not thinking about it!

So where did the candy go??? Check it out.......................

Washington, DC

• MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
• Ronald McDonald Houses 
• Hospital for Sick Children
• The EVAN Foundation (at Children's National Medical Center) 
• Covenant House 

Baltimore, MD 

• Children’s Hospital at Sinai
• Hackerman Patz House
• Ronald McDonald House 

Bethesda, MD

• Children's Inn at NIH 

Northern Virginia

• Ronald McDonald Houses 
• Special Love for Children with Cancer 
• Pediatric Specialists of Northern Virginia (PSV) 
• DC Candlelighter's Childhood Cancer Foundation
• Embry Rucker Community Shelter 
• Cornerstones