Thursday, September 18, 2008

A pregnant woman in need



Before I get started venting, these are a couple of pics my friend sent me. These are in a little town near Texas and I would go there with my mom or her twin sister to pick up ceramic supplies. As you can see by one picture, the mobile home was raised
because their home was destroyed by Ike and now this.
Okay, now on to venting. I went to Goodwill today to look for treasures and over heard a young pregnant woman asking why she had to pay for the outfits she bought for her family.
You see Goodwill donates 2 outfits each to families that have homes destroyed by storm or fire. My eyes began to well with tears and I couldn't help myself. Something told me this young woman needed help, so I gave her my phone number because I have clothes that don't fit and shoes that are practically new and I wanted to give them to her. She thanked me and said she would call me next week to pick them up.
Well after she left, I was angry at the manager and went to the back, after putting some things back and asked her why this woman had to pay $40 for clothes for her, her husband and 4 boys. Her answer was they have not recieved word yet about Ike. Give me a break. I just looked her straight in the eye and said you know all these things in here are free and were donated for a purpose. She then realized (her daughter was standing with her and looked ashamed)what she had done and asked if the woman was still in the store. I told her no that she left heartbroken and that I was going to take care of her. Needless to say, I left the store in tears and when I got home, my husband wanted to know why. So I told him what happened, only he cursed the manager for being so cruel to a woman who lost EVERYTHING they owned. I called the woman's mother (small town) and told her we were adopting her daughter to help her out. She told me "God Bless You, you have no idea how much that will help them". I told the mother that I have been blessed and I just want to pay if forward. We don't live in a fancy house, in fact my house is only a $77,000 cottage. But we are blessed with God's love and He never fails to give us what we need. I know that God put us in that store at the same time for a reason. So this weekend, I am cleaning my closet out, but will have to buy clothes for the boys. I do have some stretch pants that will help her out until she can get maternity tops later. They were also turned down for emergency food stamps because they have to take care of Gustav first, so thank goodness her parents will be able to help out a little for now. I am trying to get my sister to donate some money for a gift card for groceries. They are not moving back because they had just finished getting back on their feet from Rita, 3 years ago and could only afford a mobile home. There were not in an evacuation zone, but left anyway and I am so happy that they did.
I will be gone for the next week, so I can help her out and make calls to our Senator to see what can be done. I am telling you all this because we all need to reach out to the people who listened and left, so they didn't have to have anyone rescue them.
If any of you would like to donate clothes for the boys, they are size 10, 12, 14, and the older son wears 31x32 pants and medium shirts. I will be more than happy to send you the postage. My dil is looking through my ds's closet for clothes he has out grown and tomorrow I am calling my cousin.
I was close to a physical and mental breakdown, but today my spirit was renewed by God and that is the greatest Blessing I could ask for. I will be gone for about a week, maybe less but just don't want anyone worrying about me. May God Bless all of you and thank God every day for what you are Blessed with. My prayers go out to all my Texan and Louisiana blog friends. Love and Hugs, Pat

4 comments:

The Urban Chic said...

In the first paragraph, I meant to say that Rita destroyed their home and this is what Ike did---this is not the woman's home I vented about.Hers is completely gone.

Joyce said...

Hey Pat,
Okay I got you now....I was a bit confussed in the begining with the hurricane names. There's been so many of those things.....Weird too how we equate our lives and time to them as well.....like "before Katrina" and "After Lily"....ever notice that??

That is very sad about the lady and her family. I know that all of lower south Lousiana got hit badly. We know people in Vermillion Parish.
And we had girl from Lake Charles come and stay with us.

People in America don't realize this nor how BAD Gustav was either. There isn't much media coverage for Louisiana for Ike and there was NONE for Gustav.....

People here in Baton Rouge STILL don't have power.....one lady told me today how she had two trees through her house and is staying at her parents home and they just got their phones and cable back today.

That is awesome what you are doing. Have you thought of contacting any of the local churches in Crowley to see what they offer as well? Maybe they have a foodbank or clothing store that are free to them??

Try Northside Crowley Assembly of God too.....I know they do alot of that kind of relief work.

I just read your e-mail and wanted to check out your blog like you said and I will write you back!

Hang in there and keep up the good work.....we have to think about others in times like these.
I appreciate you.
Be blessed....
Joyce

Joyce said...

Hey Pat,
Okay I got you now....I was a bit confussed in the begining with the hurricane names. There's been so many of those things.....Weird too how we equate our lives and time to them as well.....like "before Katrina" and "After Lily"....ever notice that??

That is very sad about the lady and her family. I know that all of lower south Lousiana got hit badly. We know people in Vermillion Parish.
And we had girl from Lake Charles come and stay with us.

People in America don't realize this nor how BAD Gustav was either. There isn't much media coverage for Louisiana for Ike and there was NONE for Gustav.....

People here in Baton Rouge STILL don't have power.....one lady told me today how she had two trees through her house and is staying at her parents home and they just got their phones and cable back today.

That is awesome what you are doing. Have you thought of contacting any of the local churches in Crowley to see what they offer as well? Maybe they have a foodbank or clothing store that are free to them??

Try Northside Crowley Assembly of God too.....I know they do alot of that kind of relief work.

I just read your e-mail and wanted to check out your blog like you said and I will write you back!

Hang in there and keep up the good work.....we have to think about others in times like these.
I appreciate you.
Be blessed....
Joyce

Ele at abitofpinkheaven said...

Blessings to you.