Christmas 2007 - This is what we've been working towards all year! It's time to share all that we have collected with those who need it! On Saturday, December 15^th, we all gathered at McDonalds (as has become our tradition) to begin our annual give away. When Breezy and I arrived, Kate was already there. Then Dad, Ma and Gram arrived, followed shortly thereafter by two of my sisters, Dana (who brought along bags and bags of homemade cookies to hand out) and Chrissy (who took 101 photos for our scrapbook). This was Dana's second time to come along and Chrissy's third.

  Breezy, Kate and I had spent the day before with the guys from Texas Country Reporter (Dan - the cameraman, Ryan - a producer, and of course, the face of Texas Country Reporter - Bob Phillips). They were all very nice and a pleasure to know. It was a dreary, rainy day and we spent most of it in the shed (where we store all the blankets and such). It was a tight fit - especially for Dan who is remarkably tall! On Saturday, Dan(along with Jason, another producer) joined us on our rounds. Fortunately, the rain had gone away and the sun was shining, so it promised to be a good day!

  I had gone to McDonalds a few days before and spoken with Steve (a very nice homeless man who we met last year). Steve promised to spread the word that we would be there Saturday morning. When we got to McDonalds, Steve and a half dozen other gentlemen were there waiting for us. We proceeded next door to the parking lot of Peter Pan Miniature Golf and unloaded all the containers from the cars. We had managed to purchase quite a lot this year and so many people had generously donated dozens of blankets and coats.

  The night before we were scheduled to deliver, my friend Barbara, and her daughter Tabby delivered 30 Christmas-themed lunch sacks full of snacks (beef jerky, crackers and cheese, trail mix, cookies, candy, Vienna sausages) that they and Barbara's sister Linda had put together for us to hand out with the blankets. Barbara said that they want to provide that every year from now on. That was really nice and the folks really appreciated them!

  We were at Peter Pan for quite a while because more and more people kept coming. Everyone was so appreciative ~ but then, they always are ... From there we proceeded to Wooldridge Park. At first it looked like no one was there, but then Breezy saw some people down in a valley and went to talk to them. As we opened the cars to take out the containers, more people came - and came - and came. From there we went on to Waterloo Park. Usually, we are only at Waterloo for a short time. It's a huge park, but we usually only come across one or two people. This time, however, we found an entire community of people in need of blankets and warm clothes. There was a young man standing alone playing a guitar. I went over to talk to him to see if needed anything. While he didn't look homeless, he admitted that he was. He thanked me for the offer, but as is often the case, he didn't take anything because he already had all that he could carry. He said it's just too hard to keep things clean when you have too much to carry. We probably spent two hours at Waterloo - the need was so great. It ended up being our last stop of the day. Whenever we have any blankets left over, Kate and Breezy and I carry them in our cars for the rest of the cold season so that we can hand them out to people we come upon. Although we gave away dozens of blankets, we were left with a few - so we will still be handing them out from time-to-time.

  That same night, Kate and I attended our company Christmas party. We were surprised near the end of the evening when the president of our company stood up to give his annual speech. He asked Kate and me to join him at the front of the room. He said that he had recently learned of our project and presented our story to the Board of Directors. As a result, he handed us an envelope with a generous donation from our company towards next year's blanket delivery. Then, he pulled a second envelope out of his pocket and gave us a donation from him and his wife. We were absolutely stunned and oh so appreciative! Next year we will be able to do so much more!