THREE MONTHS HAVE PASSED since these shoes rested on this rug in my kitchen.
Late Wednesday evening my 19-year-old son arrived home from Boston for the holidays and a month-long break from college.
I am one happy mama.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
I REALLY DIDN’T THINK I would be personally impacted by all of the problems plaguing MNSure, Minnesota’s online health insurance exchange. But, oh, how wrong I was about that.
First, a little background: Since completing a MNSure application on November 25, I’ve been waiting to see if I qualify for a subsidy. I got a response in 2 ½ weeks, which is a positive. I expected the process would take longer. I’d delayed applying in hopes that the bugs would be worked out of the system.
Friday I learned that I don’t qualify for assistance, although trained assisters guiding me through the application process said I should qualify based on income guidelines.
The MNSure mailing stated that I would receive a second mailing explaining why I do not qualify. That’s efficiency.
Then, on Monday, a MNSure rep called. Due to “technical errors, calculations were incorrect” and I may, indeed, qualify for assistance or a credit, she said. Good news for me, I thought.
But then she dropped the bombshell: I would need to resubmit my application.
Are you kidding? According to one news report, I am among about 1,000 Minnesotans who will need to resubmit.
She assured me, “It’s not your fault.” The rep sounded sincerely apologetic, extremely stressed and deeply frustrated.
A screen shot of the MNsure website.
Her frustration did not match mine when I later went onto the MNSure website to once again begin the long, tedious process of completing my application. The first time I worked with a trained assister for 1 1/2 hours to complete the app.
Not to my great surprise, I got this message: “the mnsure system experienced an unexpected exception and cannot fulfill your request (500 http error).”
OK, then. This is the same message I’d gotten many times previously while on the website. And, yes, I am using one of the recommended browsers.
I tried again later and was able to begin working on my application. As I plowed through the questions, unsure how to respond to some (because even the MNSure rep was wishy washy when I asked for clarification), I reached a point where I needed info from my husband’s employer. So I decided to save my app and resume work the next day. Major mistake. The information I’d worked an hour to input, and then saved, simply vanished. Yup. Not there.
I phoned the MNSure rep who’d called me earlier and this time I told her I was p__d. It is not a word I use often.
Her frustration nearly matched mine. “I don’t know how people have stuck with it this long,” she said, along with a few other things I won’t share.
Well, for now, I’m not sticking with it. I’ve already invested hours and hours of my time working on the app and gathering and reading info on the health insurance options available to me. I have no clue what to do. I’m stressed to the max by this process and do not want to think about it anymore until after Christmas.
So I’ve paid my $1,627 premium for 2 1/2 months of coverage under my existing grandfathered-in $3,000 deductible individual health insurance plan until I figure out this mess.
My premium increased $108 from $454/month to $562/month with no change in benefits, including no free preventative coverage.
I attribute the major increase in my health insurance premium to the Affordable Care Act. Yet, I was one of the lucky ones. My plan wasn’t dropped like that of others with individual policies. But I am being forced out of my policy because I can no longer afford the premium.
Despite all of this, the Affordable Care Act brings one positive for me personally. Up until now, because of a pre-existing condition, I was stuck with my existing health insurance plan. Now I can shop. But I don’t like shopping, especially for insurance.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Bernadette and Hazel with their Minnie Mouses barely showing in this image. Photo courtesy of Mary DeCann Benson.
I FEEL EMOTIONALLY OVERWHELMED by the sisters’ words. For, in the midst of losing Hazel, 7, and Isaiah, 4, in a December 4 fire that destroyed the younger sister’s house near Lucan in rural southwestern Minnesota, they are thanking those who rallied to help.
Admitting that she is still in a “fog,” Bernadette Thooft says her family—including husband, Matt, and five surviving children—is “extremely grateful for the outpouring of love and support we have been shown and continue to be shown. I do not know if this makes sense or not, but we are overwhelmed by grief and pain and then are getting overwhelmed by love and support. In this horrifying time, God’s glory is shining through and we feel blessed by this.”
Heartfelt, faith-filled words written by a mother enduring a tragedy no parent ever wants to face.
Bernadette’s sister and godmother to Hazel Anne, Mary DeCann Benson of Texas, praises the efforts of volunteer emergency response teams from surrounding communities and then shares an especially touching moment: “That you (responders) found Hazel’s favorite pink Minnie Mouse in the ruins of the fire, cleaned it up, and returned it to Bernadette and Matt speak volumes as to how much of yourselves you give to the members of your communities. We will forever be grateful.”
She is appreciative, too, of family friend, Jennifer Christensen Zollner, who “worked around the clock” as a primary organizer and family liaison, and to the residents of neighboring communities for their generous love, support and prayers. Two days after the fire, the family moved into a fully furnished house in Wabasso. Accounts have been established online and at a Lucan bank to help the Thoofts. As of late Tuesday afternoon, 253 donations of just over $17,000 have been made to the Thooft family’s Giveforward fundraiser.
Mary offers a glimpse into the loving home in which Hazel and Isaiah and their five siblings have been raised. That consoles me, to hear that Bernadette and Matt “live their lives and raise their children by four guiding principles: God, family, community, self, in that order.”
“In a world that so often values the tangible,” Mary continues, “they have taught their children that the real beauty and value of life comes not from what you own, but from what you experience and most importantly, those you experience it with.”
Her sister and family dine together every evening, pray before meals and thank God at the close of each day for their daily blessings.
Then I laugh when Mary shares details of the Thoofts’ Sundays, designated as their “Family Day.” After church, Matt prepares pancakes for the kids, “dirtying way too many dishes” and leaving Bernadette to follow behind grumbling that “Dad needs to learn to clean as you go.”
I can visualize that big happy family gathering for pancakes and then later, as Mary notes, doing something special together. Extended family knows not to call on Sundays because their calls will go unanswered and unreturned until Monday.
Isaiah Thooft. Photo source: Stephens Funeral Service.
Bernadette also planned special mother-daughter days with Hazel each month. And after the Thoofts adopted Isaiah, they changed his middle name to Matthew, after his new daddy. It is not lost on me that the name Matthew means “gift from God.”
In the thoughtful insights Mary reveals to me, I am consoled knowing that second grader Hazel and preschooler Isaiah knew Jesus and were embraced by a family that loved them deeply.
“Bernadette and Matt are not perfect parents and they would not appreciate me trying to make them out to be anything more than two people struggling to do their best on a daily basis,” Mary says. “They are good people, suffering a loss that most of us can never come close to understanding and they would be the first to say that they hope the rest of us will never have to.”
FYI: To learn how you can assist the Thooft family and Vesta firefighter Neal Hansen, who was seriously injured after being run over by a fire truck on the scene, please click here.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
BACK-TO-BACK DECEMBERS, my husband and I have won tickets to holiday concerts from Faribault radio stations.
Last year Randy scored tickets from Power 96, KQCL, to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
This past weekend I won two tickets from KDHL to hear the Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet at the Northfield Middle School.
The two shared the commonality of a holiday theme. Otherwise they couldn’t have been more different with ear-deafening rock music at one to ear-soothing orchestra music at the other. I enjoyed both, in different ways.
Since I’ve already blogged about the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert (click here), this post focuses on the CVRO’s two-hour long Sunday afternoon Nutcracker concert.
Versions of the Nutcracker play on screen while the orchestra performs.
A Christmas classic, the Nutcracker shares the story of a young girl who receives a nutcracker from her godfather and then has a dream, according to Philip Spensley, who hosted and narrated the CVRO event. Spensley’s voice alone impressed me in that sort of sitting by the fireside listening to a well-spoken man vocalize in a mesmerizing and magical tone way.
Two nutcrackers were posted on either side of the orchestra.
The original Nutcracker was performed in 1892 with many revisions and interpretations since, said Spensley.
While the musicians played on Sunday, snippet versions of the Nutcracker showed on a big screen suspended above the orchestra, making this an intertwining visual and auditory experience.
I last saw the Nutcracker presented during a December 2012 figure skating show, “The Nutcracker on Ice,” at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault. (Click here to read that post.)
And many decades ago while in college, I was entertained by the ballet version on stage in the Twin Cities.
Photographed between Acts I and II.
I come to concerts like CVRO’s with minimal musical knowledge. I can’t read a note nor do I always know what instruments I am seeing or hearing. I didn’t grow up with music, unless you count a toy accordion I got for Christmas one year and organ music at Sunday morning church services. Opportunities simply were not there for me to learn music or attend concerts.
Thus I am especially grateful for opportunities locally to hear the likes of the CVRO, a regional orchestra founded in 1979 and comprised of around 40 musicians, both professional and otherwise, according to member and cellist Rick Berge of Faribault who phoned me about my free tickets.
The gift of the nutcracker, one of many scenes shown on the big screen.
He noted that I should pay special attention to the celesta, an unusual instrument resembling a small upright piano. From my seat, I couldn’t clearly see the celesta, but I had a good view of the violins, or maybe they were violas—I don’t know the difference. When watching the violinists, I noted how, most often, they drew bows across strings like ballerinas gliding across a stage. Other times they moved their arms in short, jerky pops like leaping ballerinas. And then I noticed the musicians plucking strings with their fingers and whispered to my husband, “I didn’t know violinists played violins without bows.”
As I said, my musical knowledge is minimal.
The CVRO founder and long-time conductor, Paul Niemisto, comes to his position with vast musical experience. (Click here to read about his background.) He currently serves on the faculty at Northfield’s St. Olaf College, a college noted for its strong musical program. To retain that level of commitment to an orchestra for 33 seasons is remarkable.
Also commendable is the commitment of the volunteer CVRO musicians who come from around the area, gathering to practice and present four regional concerts annually.
I was delighted to sit in the audience at their holiday concert, wondering, as I always have, how ballerinas can dance on their tiptoes and how violinists know exactly how far to slide their bows.
CVRO musicians prepare to take a break between acts.
FYI: To learn more about the Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra, click here.
Although I received two free tickets to this concert, I was not asked to write this post nor did winning the tickets influence the content herein.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Be present at our table, Lord, be here and everywhere adored, These mercies bless, and grant that we may feast in fellowship with Thee.
Guests file through the serving line at the free Community Christmas dinner.
PERHAPS THEY NOTICED the words above the church basement kitchen window, perhaps they didn’t. But the hundreds of diners who filed through the serving line at the annual Community Christmas Dinner at Fourth Avenue United Methodist Church in Faribault on Sunday, were blessed…
…by the men and women and youth who served them
a delicious meal
in the wonderful company of folks like Mike and Sue, high school sweethearts who met at the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind in Faribault and who have been married nearly 31 years.
Diners were blessed by organized volunteers who leave detailed notes so that this dinner flows seemingly flawlessly.
They were blessed, too, with a hardworking kitchen crew that works behind the scenes preparing food, washing dishes and kettles, etc.,
and by team members with a sense of humor (as written on this volunteer’s apron).
Uplifting basement banners offer words of blessing.
Sweet blessings come in cakes baked, per these special instructions and brought to the church basement,
and then frosted with whipped topping and sprinkled with colored sugar,
before Madeline and others serve the Christmas cake, the same dessert that’s served every year at the Christmas dinner.
Blessings come in the company of others in the warmth of this church basement on a cold December day in Minnesota.
These waiting women were blessed, too, by a driver bringing the vehicle close to the door for their ride home.
The members of the historic 1915 Fourth Avenue United Methodist Church
bless the community of Faribault each December by opening church doors for the annual Community Christmas Dinner.
Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
One of the principal rules of religion is to lose no occasion of serving God. And, since he is invisible to our eyes, we are to serve him in our neighbor; which he receives as if done to himself in person, standing visibly before us.— John Wesley, co-founder of the Methodist movement
A street-side sign welcomes diners to the 2012 free Community Christmas Dinner. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.
IT’S NOT LIKE I NEED a free meal. There’s plenty of food in my cupboards, refrigerator and freezer.
But, for the past several years, I’ve eaten at the Fourth Avenue United Methodist Church, Faribault, Community Christmas Dinner.
For me, dining in the basement of this 1915 church just weeks before Christmas is about being part of my community—connecting with friends and strangers in the spirit of neighborliness and holiday good will.
A sampling of the volunteer crew which puts on the Christmas dinner. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo 2012.
There’s something about partaking in a community meal, prepared and served by a crew of dedicated volunteers, that makes me feel embraced and cherished.
My meal, minus the cranberries, bread and cake which were also served. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo 2012.
I appreciate the smiles of servers dishing turkey and meatballs, mashed potatoes with gravy and green beans onto hefty plates that have graced this church basement through many an occasion. In my plate, I feel the weight of grief and joy, of comfort and celebration.
Volunteers served around 225 diners at the free Community Christmas Dinner in 2012. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo 2012.
In the closeness of back-to-back folding chairs pulled to tables draped with red and green plastic tablecloths and topped with festive poinsettias, I engage in warm conversation.
It’s all about connecting here, through words and food.
The din of a church basement is unequaled—rise and fall of voices, clatter of dishes and kettles, occasional outbursts of laughter.
To be there nourishes more than my body. This Community Christmas Dinner also feeds my soul and reaffirms for me that I am blessed to call Faribault home.
The meal always ends with the serving of Christmas cake.
FYI: The Fourth Avenue United Methodist Church Community Christmas Dinner will be served from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Sunday, December 15, in the church basement at 219 Fourth Avenue Northwest, Faribault. Take-out meals will be available between 10:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Free will offerings are accepted with those donations going back to the community.
To read my post about last year’s dinner, click here.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
THE WORDS WRENCH at my heart as I read them. Words of consolation from family and friends attempting to comfort Matt and Bernadette Thooft, who lost two of their children in a house fire on Wednesday, December 4, near Lucan in my native southwestern Minnesota.
Anita Schoniger comments on the Stephens Funeral Service obituary page for the Thooft children: Auntie Nut loves you to the moon and back Miss Hazel Ann and my little Isaiah.
Hazel, 7, and Isaiah, 4, died in the fire.
Beautiful babies…special angels…a happy little boy with a big smile…
A mother who’s lost a child writes: People say time heals all wounds, but honestly in this situation I’ve learned that time doesn’t heal that empty feeling you have in your heart, it just makes each day easier to get out of bed.
Such heartfelt words written by those who knew, or didn’t know, Hazel and Isaiah, their parents and five siblings, Zachary, 11; Augustus, Hazel’s twin; Maxwell and Abigail, both 4; and Beatrice Grace, 2.
On Friday, the lives of Hazel and Isaiah will be remembered and celebrated at funeral services set for 10:30 a.m. at St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Wabasso. Visitation is scheduled at the church for 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. Thursday and for an hour prior to services Friday.
Hazel Thooft
Reading the obituaries of these two siblings, I smile at the independence of Hazel, who often wore mismatched outfits and several shirts at a time. This St. Anne’s Catholic School second grader liked doing things her own way, embraced art and dancing and singing. She loved school and reading and, it seems to me, simply being among people.
Isaiah Thooft
Her younger brother Isaiah, likewise, loved people and laughter and possessed a bit of a mischievous streak. You can see that in his wide grin, in the revelation that this Wabasso Public School preschooler liked to play tricks on others. He, too, enjoyed books and several times a week visited the library. A boy after my own heart, appreciating the written word.
Both children, clearly, were outgoing and loved.
I cannot imagine a grief as deep as losing a child.
I take comfort in knowing that the Thooft family possesses a deep faith in God. It is that faith and the support of family, friends and strangers, and of the small communities of southwestern Minnesota, which will carry them through their grief.
Already, the Thoofts have received an outpouring of financial and emotional support via Giveforward accounts set up to assist them. As of early Wednesday evening, 232 donations totaling around $15,000 had been made to the family. First Independent Bank of Lucan and the United Way of Southwest Minnesota are also accepting donations. Click here to learn details about how you can donate.
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JUST A NOTE: The Thoofts own two businesses, Matt’s Frame Repair and The Store (which I blogged about in March), in my hometown of Vesta. That is among the reasons this tragedy touches me personally. According to an update posted on The Store Facebook page yesterday morning, the combination thrift and grocery store which Bernadette ran solo will remain closed until further notice.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Photo credit: Stephens Funeral Service
ALTHOUGH I’VE TRAVELED TO NEW YORK, albeit only once and in the late 1970s, I’ve never been to Macy’s.
I’ve watched the Macy’s Day parade, though, on television and this year heard a brief first person account from my 19-year-old son. He attends college in the Boston area and spent his Thanksgiving break in the Big Apple.
The historic Paradise Center for the Arts in downtown Faribault.
Saturday evening, thanks to the Paradise Community Theatre’s production of Miracle on 34th Street, The Musical, I visited the aforementioned New York department store and watched (imaginatively speaking) a portion of the parade.
Plus I was swept into the holiday spirit by songs such as “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” and by the acting of 31 gifted performers. The cast includes a lot of dedicated young actors and actresses who bring abundant energy and talent to the stage.
With the exception of a cold theater (due to furnace problems), a not-so-good seat (I waited too long to reserve my ticket), and occasional difficulty hearing the singers above the orchestra, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance.
Malia Hunt as Susan Walker and Jerry Fox as Kris Kringle. Photo by Betsy Cole Photography and courtesy of the Paradise Center for the Arts.
This classic Christmas story, which was unfamiliar to me (I know, I know), thrusts you right into the magic of the holiday season. Do you believe in Santa Claus? Do you believe in love? You will after viewing this splendid performance of Miracle on 34th Street in which Kris Kringle claims that he truly is Santa Claus. Northfield resident Jerry Fox portrays as convincing of a Santa Claus as you’ll ever see, both in appearance and demeanor.
And adorable 10-year-old Malia Hunt of Faribault exudes absolute confidence in her main character role as Susan Walker, the little girl who wants a father for Christmas, along with a farmhouse, a swing in the backyard and a cow.
The sets are constantly changing in the performance. This set shows the Macy’s Department Store desk of Doris Walker (Sydney Place-Sallstrom), left, and Doris and Susan Walker’s apartment, center stage.
My favorite line in the entire show comes from Jackson Hemann of Medford, who plays Thomas Mara, Jr., the young son of a New York district attorney determined to prove Kris Kringle is not Santa.
When Kringle’s attorney, Fred Gaily (Mickey Morstad), asks Thomas why he believes in Santa, the young boy replies: “My mommy told me so.”
Ah, to possess such child-like faith.
“Faith,” Kris Kringle declares during the performance, “is believing in something when your common sense tells you not to.”
An artistic interpretation of Miracle on 34th Street graces a front window at the Paradise Center for the Arts with some of downtown Faribault’s historic buildings reflected on the glass.
When the show ended at 10 p.m., children clustered around Fox. Don’t try telling them he isn’t really Santa Claus.
They believe in the magic of Santa Claus, just like I believe in the magic of theatre to transport me from Central Avenue in Faribault, Minnesota, to 34th Street in New York City.
FYI: Additional performances of Miracle on 34th Street are set for 7:30 p.m. this Thursday – Saturday, December 12 – 14, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, December 15, at the Paradise Center for the Arts, 321 Central Avenue in historic downtown Faribault. Click here for more information. As of early Tuesday afternoon, only limited seating remained for the Friday and Saturday shows with the Sunday afternoon performance nearly sold out.
My husband and I attended Miracle on 34th Street compliments of an event hosted by South Rice County Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. This did not influence my decision to review the performance nor the content of my review.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Photo of Jerry Fox and Malia Hunt by Betsy Cole Photography and courtesy of the Paradise Center for the Arts.
Pawn Minnesota often displays merchandise, like the red fish house, outside its downtown Faribault store.
IT’S NOT EVERY DAY you spot a fish house positioned on a street corner in an historic business district.
But then this is the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” and home to lots of fishing enthusiasts who can’t wait for lakes to freeze thick enough for ice fishing. Yes, in Minnesota we do walk and drive onto frozen lakes to fish.
Outdoor seasonal merchandising…
That said, Pawn Minnesota likely grabbed the attention of shoppers with the Quickfish 3 pop-up portable fish house set up outside the business at 230 Central Avenue in downtown Faribault Saturday afternoon.
To make this even more noteworthy, the pawn shop is housed in the former Poirier Drug Store featured in the 1993 movie Grumpy Old Men. In that film, co-stars and ice fishermen Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon visit the then old-fashioned pharmacy.
In an ironic twist, the now-closed Dandelet Jewelry across the street was converted into a pawn shop for the movie. And now there’s a real pawn shop in what was once the drugstore.
If this sounds a bit confusing, consider also that Matthau and Lemmon ice fished in Grumpy Old Men. Thus the fish house erected outside the former drugstore seems especially fitting.
Minnesota weather appropriate merchandise showcased in historic downtown Faribault.
That’s how my thoughts wandered when I spied that fish house on the corner with two snowblowers parked next to it. Now if you tell me the fish are biting there…
FYI: If you think my brain cells are frozen, then click here to read about the annual Grumpy Old Men Festival set for February in Wabasha. The fest includes, among other activities, an ice fishing contest and an “Ice shacks n’ Plaid Parade.”
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
SNUGGED IN A FLANNEL SHIRT and jeans, layered under my husband’s insulated coveralls and sweatshirt, and with wool socks, insulated winter boots and mittens covering my extremities and a festive hat adding a holiday flair, I reported to my post at noon Saturday to ring bells for the Salvation Army.
Randy snapped this photo of me upon our return home. One donor joked that we should receive “hazard pay” for ringing bells on such a bitterly cold day. This was a volunteer “job.”
The temperature hovered around zero degrees Fahrenheit (-18 Celsius) in Faribault as I tied on my red apron, secured a scarf around my neck (I would add a second later) and took over bell ringing duties from my friend Barb. My husband, Randy, replaced her husband, Gary.
The temperature at 11 a.m. Saturday in Faribault, just an hour before Randy and I began ringing bells.
For the next two hours, in bitter cold temperatures which challenged even the hardiest of life-long Minnesotans like us, we greeted visitors at the Walmart south entrance.
Now you might think I would never again want to ring bells given my fingers and toes and cheeks got uncomfortably cold. At one point, per friend and north Walmart bell ringer Virgil’s suggestion, I retreated to the women’s bathroom to warm my icy red fingers under the hand air dryer. Heat never felt so good.
Gary and Barb work the 10 a.m. to noon bell-ringing shift at Walmart south.
I will ring bells again, though.
When my cheeks started hurting and flaming red, I added a second scarf.
I will ring bells again because the temporary discomfort I experienced is nothing compared to the challenges faced by those who benefit from Salvation Army services. Funds help those in emergency situations cover gas, housing, medical and other expenses. Donations also finance the “Shop with a Cop” program assisting children in need.
Nearly 90 percent of the monies dropped into kettles in Rice County stay in the county. This year the county chapter hopes to raise $50,000. In 2012, nearly $40,000 were raised, which was not enough to meet local needs.
Gary and Barb, an hour into their two-hour shift, were getting cold, but still smiling.
To be a small part of the Salvation Army’s mission, by giving two hours of my time, proved humbling and rewarding. Friend Virgil rang for 1.50 shifts while Linda, another ringer from my church, Trinity Lutheran in Faribault, pulled a double shift. That’s four hours. Outside. In the bitter cold.
Two girls give to the Salvation Army on Gary and Barb’s shift.
I was especially moved by the young parents who are teaching their children the joy of giving. Several times I watched as youngsters barely tall enough to reach the kettle dropped coins into the slot, sometimes spilling the change onto the sidewalk. We rewarded 14 youngsters with candy canes for their generosity.
One particular boy, about nine, exuded extra energetic enthusiasm. “Have a good day!” he shouted to us after placing money in the kettle.
Moments like that are priceless as is the story one mother shared while her little boy put coins in the bucket. They had seen a Toys for Tots television ad, she said. He then wanted to donate a toy, if he could get one for himself, too. I thanked this mom for teaching her son about giving at such a young age.
Randy and I were also the recipients of gratitude. Numerous donors thanked us for ringing bells, especially on such a cold day. “Bless your heart,” one woman said. Those three words most assuredly warmed my heart.
And then, near the end of our two-hour shift, another woman exiting Walmart handed me two packs of chemical hand warmers to slip inside our mittens and gloves. I was incredibly moved by her thoughtfulness.
What a great mission as noted on the sign: “Sharing is caring…need knows no season…God bless you.”
In the previous shift, another stranger purchased coffee for Gary and Barb and doughnuts for Virgil and Linda. Again, such kindness.
When our shift ended, we handed our bells and aprons and hand warmers, and the remaining 22 candy canes reserved for kids, over to our friend Leann. She was ringing the Salvation Army bell with joyful enthusiasm as we walked away.
I learned later that Virgil retrieved his wife’s boots from his car for Leann, whose boots weren’t warm enough. Leann distributed 14 candy canes to giving children, just like us, then passed the remaining four treats to fourth-shift bell ringer, Dennis.
I asked Leann if she’d had any particularly memorable moments and she shared how a teen, who’d just purchased gifts and wrapping paper, paused to pull bills from his pocket and donate. Not only that, he told her how happy he was to give.
That, my friends, represents the true spirit of charitable giving.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
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