yesterday afternoon my coworkers and i rang the bell for the salvation army at dahl's on ingersoll. it was amazing to see the different clientele at one store. we had some of des moines' richest and poorest, we even had the governor stop in while we were there. most people that walked in were happy to see us and enjoyed our caroling while others were just plain rude, one woman told us we needed a pitch pipe.
but what stuck out to me most from that day was a woman who clearly had very little money was dropped off by a taxi to do her grocery shopping. she walked in with a roll of quarters to buy her things. she opened the roll and then dropped one into the red kettle. we thanked her, said "merry christmas" and then she responded with "well it is the holidays" and then dropped in another quarter. to most of us $0.50 is no big deal but i know for that lady it was a significant donation. now that is the joy of giving.
Touching stories - perfect to remind us what the spirit of Christmas is all about :)
ReplyDeleteAnd how cool you got to ring the bell with your class!!