(In response to, ‘Another Day,’ a poem by Suzanne McGill-Anderson, The Citizen, Jan. 9, page 6)
Relish the love
Dear Editor,
The beautiful poem “Another Day”, by former schoolteacher Suzanne McGill-Anderson, was compelling. We must relish all the love we can during these Covid days, as we try to catch-up with our previous lifestyles. Frank Porretta
OCEF says ‘thank you’
Dear Editor,
To me, this is one of the hardest things I do as the Christian Service/Pantry Coordinator, and that is how to say thank you to the most “awesome, caring community” that I was blessed to land in so many years ago. I seem to repeat the same version of thank you each year, but searching the old Webster, there really is not anything that I found which can hold a candle to the good old “thank you.”
This year has been like none other; with revisions, changes, a lot of prayers, and thought went into how to help our neighbor in need while keeping everyone safe? I struggled with this many times and finally found the solution, but I was afraid the decision would not be to the liking of some people. This was definitely the year when our previous way of doing the weekly pantry and the holiday distributions was not going to work! But, it did work and that is because of all of you who understood our changes and why we had to do them and all of you came to the aid of our neighbor in need and many others who never needed help before.
Our clients and community were so very happy and appreciative of the extra Bueche cards, the extra food which people donated, and thank you to everyone who still were able to adopt a family . Each day I was overwhelmed with the generosity of our beautiful community, thank you St. Anne, and all our churches, businesses and people who came from far away in order to help in any way they could. The beautiful blankets, hats, mittens, clothing, coats and so many different items, but each donation found their way to a family that truly appreciated them. I can proudly say, we did not turn away anyone , we were able to meet their needs and beyond.
I especially would like to say thank you to our wonderful Bueches who allowed our donation box to sit on their counter and will continue to do so until our beautiful nation can come together as one without the fear of the virus. Each day when I opened the box I was in tears, the continuous generosity of our community was totally overwhelming, many days it took my breathe away. Before I close, I would like to share a story with you about my encounter with a sweet young girl, maybe 5 or 6, with a cute brown ponytail, pink glasses and a pink mask. As I was taking the donations from the box this young lady approached me and politely asked if I was allowed to take that money? I could see she was very concerned about what I was doing so I carefully explained to her who I was and why I was allowed to take the money from the box. She seemed somewhat relieved and she explained that each week if she makes her bed every day, she gets $1, and each time she gets her $1 she puts 50 cents into the box at Bueche’s to help “feed people.” Something told me I was looking at my replacement, now If I can just hang in for about 20 more years!!
Thank you everyone, you made a difference in so many lives. Karyn Milligan