STORM2K

Friday night, the 22nd of December I was at home starting to cook the food that you can prepare for the Christmas meal before hand and my daughters friend came over and said that her boyfriends sister and her husband had their car broken into that night while sitting in front of their home (FEMA trailer) and someone had stolen all the Santa Claus for their children. There evidently was a couple of things in the back seat and they broke the window to get those and then went through the back seat into the trunk and got the rest of the things. They have two little children ages 4 and 7. She said they were so upset trying to find things they could go pawn so they could get something for their children for Christmas and like the rest of us down here, after Katrina, no one has anything left of any value that is worth pawning. They didn't know what to do. I had gone to the bank that day and had some cash for the holidays and my heart hurt for those two little children and so I gave her $50.00 in cash and told her to go buy the children some toys. She was so upset because she thought that I though that is why she came over and I said nooooo, I just want those two little kids to have something under the tree from Santa.

Anyway she and Aimee went on their merry way and did what ever they were going to do and the more I thought about it the more I felt my heart open up so when Aimee came home I gave her another $50.00 and told her to tell Nicole (yes the one that was in NO with us on Bourbon Street) to either buy something else for the children or buy something for the Mom and Dad. After Nicole had dropped Aimee off she had called back and said that she had called the Mom to find out what the children wanted really really bad and that I had given her some money and she said the lady just started crying so hard and telling her to thank me so much that she couldn't make out what she was saying.

Nicole finally made out what she was saying when she got her to calm down enough and and she was going shopping the next day (the 23rd) and buy some presents for the children. She told her Mom about it and her Mom said, OK I will match that and we can go shopping together. So when Aimee called and told her about the other money Nicole told her some things and Aimee went shopping the next day and bought them some shoes (which Hudson's Salvage had a new shipment and Nike, Asics, New Balance, etc.) so she got them some new shoes and some other things and then met up with Nicole and she took them over to the parents house on the 24th so they didn't have to try and store them at their FEMA trailer which is virtually impossible as small as they are.

The reason for this and I told Nicole to tell the Mother and Father to "Pay it Forward" and if they didn't know what that meant to explain it to them. She said she was sure they would know what it meant. She told me later that they definitely would "Pay it Forward" as soon as they could.

I don't know how many people get to watch Oprah but on her show there was a heavy set guy on their they said was from Ocean Springs, MS....well he was the Principle of Pascagoula High School the years that my children went there to school. He was given money and he bought the basketball team of the Middle School where he had been Principle before moving up to the High School court shoes for the team. That and to "thank" all the people from all over the United States and the World for their acts of kindness and gifts of money and food and clothes after Katrina I have paid it forward again. I will continue to do this as long as I am able to do so. Blessings are many and so many are untold.

I hope you all had a Wonderful Christmas and have a Blessed New Year!

Thanks again!

Mary

Ok, this is out of order but I feel that I must tell this story as a Pay it Forward for ya'll. It gives me chill-bumps every time I think about it.

At our office we usually have a week of "Secret Santa" where we draw names and each day we bring a little happy of $5.00 to $10.00) value and then on Friday a bigger gift of not to exceed $20.00. So this year we were talking about whether we wanted to do this or not when one of the X-ray techs suggested that we collect the money and get an Angel from the tree at the Mall. So we all agreed that would be a good idea. She went to get an Angel and there were none. The Salvation Army said there were too many children to do the trees this year so they were just collecting toys and would give them out to those on their lists. While she was there they did have a Tree, but it was a Senior Citizens Tree and she noticed it had things like toothpaste, soap, warm clothes, a jacket, etc.....she didn't get one because she wanted to check with the rest of us what we wanted to do. The next morning she sent out an email and we all agreed that would be a good idea, so she went back and guess what, all the Angels were gone. Evidently it was a very good thing for the Senior Citizens! We were then in a quandary as what to do. We could just go buy random toys and take them to the S.A. or try to find a family we could adopt. Through her church and a local school just around the block from our office she got the names of a family with 3 children that really needed help. So we collected $350.00 which is a lot when you think about our small office (even though we are a big group of 5 offices this was just ours in Pascagoula) with only 14 employees and not everyone can afford to chip in. So KK the one who had the idea in the first place and another girl from the office went to Wal-Mart (bless their souls) and went shopping for these three children. They had a list of sizes and of a couple of toys they wanted. They had a whole buggy full of stuff and they were trying to add in their heads as they went along. When they got to the register they picked out the "essentials" of what they needed to get, they had the cashier ring those up and do a subtotal and they still had some money left, they put up some more things and had him do another subtotal and they still had some money left, they did this two more times and finally when the buggy was empty and all the items were rung up, guess what the total was? Finished guessing? It was $350.00 to the penny! Not one penny more and not one penny less............that could only be the work of one person and he is in Heaven!

Mary

I got chill-bumps again as I typed this!

AMEN!!!

Darn you Mary...you know how to make me cry with your warm generous heart.

We call the "goosebumps" up here but those wonderful acts of kindness gave me "chillbumps" and "goosebumps" and smeared the heck out of my mascara. You are indeed a wonderful person. God Bless You
Karan ((HUGS))

Mary, believe it or not my Mother was standing in line behind the lady with the 350.00. My Mother told me about her doing that. Wait until I tell her.

You are so kind, Mary...and those people you work with are too! Your stories brought tears to my eyes.

Linda, if that ain't a coincidence, I don't know what is! lol

I know, I know! I about fell out of my chair when I read that.

My bad, it was not my Mom (she had no clue), it was my husband. lol. I knew one of them told me about it. He said there were two girls at the checkout.

Yep Linda, you know one of them, Shiney Hiney's wife or ex or separated or what ever they are.

Thank ya'll all for the kind words, but I wasn't posting for that reason, I just wanted people to remember to "Pay it Forward" when and if they can, especially the people here along the coast that have received so many blessings from so many people from all over. I know if it hadn't been for the churches and individuals and other police and fire departments we would still be in the three changes of clothes we had (I always pack a few more) and our local police, sheriffs office, fire departments would have no cars, no radios, there was no communication what so ever with anybody in or out of Jackson County until a big motor home from Brooksville, Florida rolled up outfitted with a huge generator and radio equipment so that the station could talk to the patrol cars. AND IT HAD AIR CONDITIONING!!!!
They brought food, water, clothes for the deputies, etc. No one had called them, they just came on their own. They had all kind of specialist on their team, its called B.E.R.T. Those were some of the nicest men I have ever met! They even brought heavy equipment to help pick up debris and look for survivors and a dog to hunt for the others. They were well equipped and knowledgeable. They helped the City of Moss Point get their water pumps back on line because no one in Moss Point had water because the main pumps had gone under water.

They did so much for our County and all the cities within it. Thanks could never be enough for these kind men!

Our County "supervisors" if you want to call them that (we have other names for them...hehehehe), still haven't even touched the Sheriffs Office on the ground floor of the courthouse but everyone else is back in their offices. You still see mud and water lines and water logged stuff laying around, its a shame what they have done to the Sheriffs Department, don't get me started. They are still in trailers sitting out front of the Courthouse. The dispatchers just moved from the B.E.R.T. mobile home which the county bought from them for our use after storms now and moved into a trailer that the Criminal Investigative Unit was in and they got to move back into the fourth floor of the Courthouse. All the Administration, the Sheriff, the Chief, the Major and the secretaries are still in another trailer but at least they have a bathroom. The dispatchers trailer doesn't have a bathroom they have to either go in the courthouse or over the the Admin trailer, which they call the Taj Mahal because it has a bathroom and carpet and the the trailer they are in is the "crack trailer" cause it is stripped down to nothing but floors and walls. Folding tables and chairs is what they are working on and what the CID people worked on too. It just doesn't make since that the most damaged part of the Courthouse was the Sheriffs Department and it still remains as it was the day of the storm.

Ok, I'll shut the heck up! And I certainly didn't mean for anybody to cry

Mary

Mary,

I am a Pay It Forward disciple, and your stories remind me again, all of us again, why it is so important to make "paying it forward" part of our daily lives.

Since that day in Vietnam when bullets were whizzing by my head so close that I could feel the air move and hear the buzz of their passing, I have tried to live a life of "paying it forward".

On at least two other sites where I post, that very topic has been brought up and stirred up and made an integral part of the lives of others.

I suspect that because you believe in the practice of "paying it forward" that there are others around you already who are doing just that.

Thanks for sharing.

Steve

I believe in it Steve.

I know you do Linda...

azskyman wrote:I know you do Linda...

Mary,
When I first read the title I thought you were a flybaby and almost fell out of my chair thinking that you were a member of the flybabies (we are folks that always pay it forward) until I read your story, it was very touching and moving.

GLad to see that paying it forward is still going around

From another Mary

Thanks Steve and "another Mary"! What are flybabies, can I join? And oh yea, several of my friends Pay It Forward because I have told them about it, I guess they didn't see the movie . I usually just open my heart to God and let him lead me in what I should do in just about every aspect of my life. I can't say every, cause sometimes the little devil on my other shoulder wins out...rofl!

Mary

"Pay it Forward" is a wonderful concept and especially beautiful at this time of the year.

It's little Christmas miracles like these that make you feel really good about mankind as a whole.

Bless you Mary! Thank you for sharing this special story.

Ditto on paying it forward! Great way to live...and great movie too! (I love Haley Joel Osment and Colleen Flynn, the lady on the bridge.)

And I'm a flybaby also.

After reading this I went back and rejoined as a FlyBaby, since I seem to be suffering from CHAOS again ; thanks for the reminder, Mary.

Kim

While I believe in "paying it forward" I've never heard of FlyBaby. What is that?


Btw, Jon Bon Jovi is in the movie, "Pay it Forward" and of course, I have the DVD.