I didn't write this, but wanted to let everyone know what happened yesterday. This is a message that was sent to Heartworks Kids families by Krista Squiers:
It's important to me to tell you how very touched we are that you and your families took the time to come out and help us at the high school today.
I realize that our first reaction to very few showing up is one of sadness. But I want you to know, and I mean this with all of my heart, that what you did today mattered. It mattered a great deal. And it turned out exactly as it was supposed to. We truly had no idea what was going to happen today, and after having personally canvassed the entire Walton County area distributing flyers, I can tell you that the people in need are out there. It's just much more difficult to reach them than we anticipated.
But you know what, they found us!! We have the most touching stories flowing in from families who delivered meals today. If you have a story that we don't know about, please share it with us, we want to hear it. For example...
- The Klinger family was the first to arrive at the Panama City rescue mission with more food than they had ever seen. The line of people needing a hot meal was out the door, and they didn't even know if they would have enough food to feed everyone. And then the Klingers arrived. And then the Mitchells arrived with more food. Can you imagine their faces when they saw all that food!!
- Lauren & Wade delivered 20 meals to the Haven House north of 98, where people are staying to try and get their lives back on track. I for one didn't even know this home existed.
- Julie Rookis delivered a hot meal to an elderly shut-in, who was so grateful to just see someone.
- Someone came up with the idea of delivering hot meals to the men & women at the Fire Stations, so Kim & Karis Edererer, and Kathy & Wil Donelson were their Santas for the day. Diedre Brightman delivered food to the fire department on 393. Thank you Diedre!!
-Kathy wanted to tell us that she & Wil delivered both meals & the Christmas trees to the Freeport Fire Dept. They have a collection of used bikes for needy families and the 7 trees (donated by the Seaside Rep) will go to them as well. They then headed to the PC rescue mission and were probably the last family there. She said "...and let me tell you there were still people everywhere waiting to be fed. Honestly I was amazed at the amount of people. Bless you Bless you was repeated many times..."
- Brenda Rees took 4 containers full of meat to Good News United Methodist church.
- Many families took boxes of the bagged groceries and will be delivering them to Caring & Sharing this week. They desperately need food, they just didn't have any means to deliver the hot meals. So we were able to provide them with exactly what they need.
We learned many lessons today and over the past few weeks of planning this event, both about how to do things differently next time, and most importantly about just how huge the hearts are in our community. Today God had a bigger plan than our eyes could see, and I know he's smiling down on us right now with joy in his heart.
blessings for a very Merry Christmas!
