A long one.

Today has been an emotional day for me. I've been thinking about things a lot. It all started with an e-mail I got from my my this morning. Here it is:

Last night Kaleigh's brownie troop met at Mission San Diego in downtown SD to deliver toys to children and mom's who are homeless or who were in abusive relationships and left. Her troop collected 20 toys and wrapped them to give and a local supermarket donated cookies, candy canes and juice to make it a real party. We were supposed to collect 35 toys so each child would get 2 gifts....but, we only collected 20. Sooooo....Kaleigh went around our neighborhood and on her own she collected an additional 50 TOYS, 5 BAGS OF USED CLOTHING AND 3 BOXES OF DIAPERS!!!!! It really made an impact because each child was able to get 5 gifts and each of the moms were able to get some really nice clothing for themselves and their children!! All the donations that Kaleigh collected except one was from a military family!!! Wow! There is another little girl named Kaleigh (same spelling!!) in the troop who, also, emptied her piggy bank ($60) and went and bought toys to help too!! Also, when we first walked into the shelter there were some families sitting in a closed in parking lot. We found out that those people were homeless, living on the streets and were not in the program at the mission. They are allowed to stay in this gated area overnight, but have to leave during the day. UGH....there was one little boy that cried when he saw all the toys and us going into the building...we were all heartbroken....soo...we saved some of the toys, books, clothing and cookies and gave them to the people outside....ugh.... What an experience. Kaleigh and I found the little boy that was crying and made sure he had a candy cane, a cookie and gave him a motorcycle.....and he took a picture with her. His name is Malik. Please pray for all these people. It was an experience our girls will remember for a long time....they just couldn't believe that these little kids had no homes...we all were counting our blessings as we said goodbye and went back to our warm homes filled with all the luxuries of life and our families...really made us appreciate all that we have!

Things like this are not fair, and as I've gotten older, I've continued to have a hard time understanding why people - children even - don't have safe homes to live and grow up in. I feel like I've always been especially affected by stories like these. I can remember being a kid and going to New York City with my family and just not being able to accept that people slept in cardboard boxes and had to beg on the street. One instance sticks out in my mind... in fact, I don't think I'll ever forget it. There was a blind man and his dog in the middle of a crowded New York Street (I think 5th Ave) and people were just passing him by, not even acknowledging him as they window shopped and took pictures with their families. I know we've all fallen victim to that - to just brushing people aside. It gets annoying and tiring to have people begging for money, and many of us wonder why "people like that" just don't get jobs. While there are plenty of people that might be able to actually go out and work, there are probably thousands who can't, or just don't have the help to get off the street. This is not only sad, but it's unacceptable. Take San Diego alone - according to the United Way, 10,000 people in San Diego County are homeless, with about 15 percent recognized as chronically homeless. I never really noticed it until I worked in downtown, but there are a lot of people who are homeless here. Everyday on my lunch break, I probably pass about 10 to 20 people suffering from this epidemic. Across the street from where I work, there is a homeless shelter, where you can find mass amounts of people lined up every day hoping to have a warm place to stay for the night. Plus, every month at work, we head over to a senior center in downtown to help serve lunch to low-income seniors. And, even though they may have places to go home to, no one should have to save a piece of bread from lunch because they have none at home (something that one of the seniors said to me last week). The icing on the cake today happened during my lunch break. I headed over to the supermarket to pick up some stuff for dinner, and there was a man bundled up, (yes, it's actually cold in San Diego these days) sitting in a wheel chair with no legs. He wasn't actually asking for money, but he had a cup in his hand and was kind of staring down at the ground. During my shopping, I picked up a hot sandwich for him. He seemed really surprised and appreciative that I had brought him something, and I couldn't help but think how nice it would be to be able to help not just one person, but every person. As everyone celebrates the holidays, and stresses over spending money on loved ones, try to think of those with nothing. I know that today has made me count my blessings, and to remember how truly lucky I am to have the life that I do.