Homeless go through boxes and boxes of freshly-washed winter clothing.
Tamela, Going Beyond Sleeping Bags
Tamela, a friend and HelpKeepWarm.org volunteer, called me one day in October saying she had access to train cars full of clothing. She went on to say we would need to spend hours and hours going through the clothes to sort out the winter stuff and, of course, the new from the old.
Honestly, I didn’t jump on the idea. I thought, "Ricki, the holidays are upon us, you are collecting sleeping bags, and, your time is limited." Although these thoughts seemed justifiable, I recalled that Tamela also worked full time and had just lost her best friend to cancer. I nearly began to take on some unhealthy guilt, but quickly let it go. I realize we are all moved to give whatever we can give, and whenever we give, everything depends on where we are in our own lives . . . how much time we have, how much money we have, and how many charities we are involved with. As long as we are giving something, somewhere, somehow, it’s all good.
Anyway, I called several organizations and got the name and number of the person heading up one organization that would take these mounds and mounds of clothing, wash them all, and give them out at a shelter in Gibsonton. I gave Tamela the number and felt good about the clothes going to the needy and forgot all about our conversation.
Several weeks before the sleeping bag distribution date, I heard from Tamela again: “My friend Janette and I spent all day Saturday sorting through the piles of clothing and household items I told you about. This stuff has been in storage for over a year. We threw away half a dumpster full of trash clothes and put together boxes and boxes of dress clothing for the women’s shelter, a load for Goodwill (sheets, bedspreads, curtains, etc.), a load for the children’s shelter (blankets and children's clothing), and the good winter clothing you need for the homeless. We will have four huge garbage bags of new-looking jeans, two huge bags of warm shirts, one huge bag of winter jackets (really nice ones), four boxes of shoes, and several bags of socks, caps, and such. All this stuff needs washing! I’ll split it up between five friends and we’ll get it done. We’re whooped!”
Tamela dropped six loads of wash on my front porch, took on 14 loads herself, and dropped the other 18 loads or more at the homes of various friends. A week later she rounded up all the freshly washed clothes, sorted them by type, and had them well organized for our December 21 distribution. She really wanted the winter clothes to go to the homeless, she wanted the best of the bunch, and she wanted them washed. She decided to take on the task herself so it would get done. I’m so glad she did!
It was like a New York City fire sale. The clothes were gone within 30 minutes at each stop. Tamela held back some boxes to make sure that she had plenty of clothing for each location, so that as many homeless as possible could benefit from her efforts. Christmas came four days early in the streets of Tampa (see photos)!
Tamela went on to say, “We only went through one row in the train car, maybe 1/50 of what’s there! — 25 bags and six boxes of clothes and we didn’t scratch the surface. We have weeks and weeks of clothes to go! And my contact has two train cars loaded that have to be emptied out for the new stuff coming in. Laughing, she added: "So I now have a new job on the weekends. Some of these clothes still have tags on them.”
Where Tamela went to get these clothes is confidential. She described the place as highly secured with two employees watching cameras that continually scan the fenced three acres in an extremely bad area of town — drug dealers, hookers, and the like. She said, "I took Emma, my dog, with us and carried a gun. Emma would bark if someone came around."
With a larger than life laugh, Tamela said, "I didn't know there were chickens and roosters inside the fenced area until Emma tore out after them. She scared us to death! We didn't know what she was after at first. It was the funniest thing I had ever seen. She was chasing a hen and rooster and a rooster was chasing her. The four of them went round and round the fence line. I was yelling at Emma and Jeanette was yelling at her in Spanish. The rooster never caught Emma — thank God! And the ones she was chasing flew onto a building — out of reach and still making a lot of racket. All day Emma was looking for chickens. Some people came walking by and immediately Emma let us know they were there. My little guard dog was worn out that night — she didn't move all night and was tired all the next day.”
Every act of giving is needed in this world of ours. There are those who give money, those who give time, and those who give money and time. . . . Thank God for them all! I can’t imagine a world without givers. Can you imagine a world of just takers?
