Serious Thinking in an Otherwise Pointless Day

Am I the only person who capitalizes my titles properly? Or even bother to come up with a title?


So, I just made a call to CityTeam to check up on their status. It looks like Simply Help at IHS is coming to an end after all. I remain optimistic. We can always collect clothes and send them to the more unfortunate families in our community. Simply Help - reaching out to the glocal community.

A few weeks ago, my Dad gave me some devastating news. The warehouse that we had been using up to that point was going to be taken back by the landlords. The warehouse had been loaned to us by a brother in church, and the loss of his warehouse is more bad news for him than us. In these tough economic times (cliche, I know), his lighting business could no longer afford to rent such a big space. I pray for the future of his company, and I thank him wholeheartedly for his compassion, generosity, and time. It's people like him that make Simply Help, or charity in general, possible.

We had two choices. 1.) Find another warehouse. 2.) Donate what we have to another local charity.

Time was of the essence here. We had only until the beginning of July until the warehouse had to be emptied out. I appreciate the help of everyone who has been trying to find an alternative warehouse, but in the end, we had to take the second option. I did some research online, trying to find a suitable organization that would best spread Simply Help goodwill in our community. I sent out some emails, I prayed, and God answered.

The day after the emails went out, Corrie Gaumnitz from CityTeam sent me a reply. Yes. They were interested. They wanted to know how many boxes we had, how many bags. I sent back my response, reminding them that we were hardpressed for time and low on resources.


Then I waited. And waited.


It seemed like things had fallen through. A week, and no response from CityTeam. I was a little disappointed and I lost hope. What was I going to do with all those clothes? With little more than a week before the deadline, I felt like I hadn't done enough. I waited too long to get in contact with local charities. I held out too long for a response from CityTeam. Things weren't going to work out, and it was largely my fault.

This afternoon, I trudged through my usual routine. Eat. Internet. True Blood. Porn. Repeat.

All of a sudden, I felt this sudden urge to call CityTeam. It just popped into my head like a lightbulb rigged to a Jack-in-a-Box on crack. I ignored it at first. I didn't want to be a stalker. But the niggling turned into guilt. After all, it was the least I could do.

To make a long story short, I called. Apparently, Corrie had forwarded our case to family services and they were closed for the past few days.

-------

I'm going to fast forward in time because just now (literally), Family Services has called me and informed me that they can pick up the clothes anytime in the upcoming three days!!

Praise Jesus! I did a little victory dance after hanging up the phone.

YAAAAAAY!!!



So even though Simply Help wasn't able to export clothes to El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras this time, we still managed to help those in need. That's what it's all about, ain't it?

The main branch in Southern California is still exporting clothes to Third World Countries that include, but are not limited to, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras. (Visit them at simplyhelp.org!) As for us at Independence High School, we can rest easy knowing that we've done our part, and that we're always part of something bigger.

Simply Help, FTW!