It is the 10th year that our Police Department has put on a program called Cops & Gobblers, where we give out laundry baskets full of food and certificate for a turkey. Added to the baskets are stuffed bunnies for each kid in the family.
This year was the BIGGEST year ever! 203 baskets were packed and delivered! We delivered 8 and in some of the places that we both grew up. And although you feel good getting out there and doing some thing...it made me incredibly sad to remember how I grew up. And that it is getting worse out there.
On some of the streets that we had thought were getting fixed up the damn landlords just fixed the outside!!!! So it didn't look like an eye sore to the city! You walk through the hallways (which were pretty scary) and it was unkempt AND light fixtures were hanging from the ceiling with the wires showing...and like motel rooms with paper thin walls, you could hear every thing that was going on behind closed doors!
It was a good reminder for me to be grateful for the middle class life I eeeked out for myself, because I did come from there...and I am not where I would want to be but I am in a good place...even if I feel one paycheck away from poverty! I know what it is like to be homeless, I have been there twice. We delivered 3 baskets on the street where I got my apt after the 2nd time being homeless...it was a 1 bedroom and there were 4 of us living in it...I remember how I felt having my kids in that 1 bedroom...and I was glad we did the delivery's there...if nothing else to remind me how far I have come...and how close you can be back to that life.
Comments