See Us @ The Carter High Band Auction

Look for us tonight at the Carter High Band Auction. We're going to be there with our display and educational materials. Stop by to register your Food Lion Shopping Card. They'll donate to Hope for Healing.Org everytime you shop and it won't cost you a thing! We'll be drawing for a vintage collectible doll at the end of the evening. A volunteer will be tying balloon free animals for the kids.

See you there!

Low Food Security - That's called HUNGER!

The following article in the Washington Post reports that the term "hunger" will be elimiated from the vocabulary of the USDA. Instead, hunger will be replaced by the term "very low food security".

Tuesday evening I delivered a Thanksgiving food box to a family of 4. Dad is back at work after an injury. Mom has ruptured discs in her back and can barely walk. Their 4 year old darling daughter never meets a stranger and their elder daughter quit school, is working full time and now helping her family.

When we walked in with the box the mom started crying. She kept saying thank you.

Low food security? Hunger? Call it what you want. The bottom line is that in the land of plenty no one should be forced to rely on the kindness of strangers to feed their family.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501621.html?nav=rss_email/components?nav=slate

Google Ads Help Here!

Help support us. Each time you see a Google ad on the top of www.hopeforhealing.org that interests you please click on it. It doesn't cost you anything but helps here big time. So far, we've earned almost $39.00. The threshold to receive a check is a minimum of $100.00. Your clicks count. They can add up to even $1.00 without costing you anything! Funds will be used to pay internet access or to provide support for our clients. Either way, it's a winning situation that pays off big for others! Check often and tell your friends. It's an easy way to help a great cause. :-)

Another Organization's Food Pantry Shuts Down.

Not joyous news. We've doubled checked and it is accurate. The food pantry at the Neighborhood Center in Jefferson City, TN has closed. If you are in Jefferson City and you need food please go to Appalachian Outreach. Those on this end of the county can come see us. We're partnering with a local church to help fill this need. I do not know what our capabilities of service are but we will do our best.

If you can help us collect canned food call us to let us know. We'll talk with you on ways you can help us partner to help our friends and neighbors have the basics.

Clothing Closet Serves 28 today!

Twenty-eight people received clothing today from our closet. Two clients became volunteers when they stayed for two hours to help us sort, fold and hang. I cannot say thanks enough! It was a very busy day.

Tuesday, the Thanksgiving Baskets will be distributed. Thank you Strawberry Plains Presbyterian Church for taking on this project! It's a comfort to know that some of our families will be sitting down on Thanksgiving to a turkey dinner with trimmings. You helped bring hope to a few people who didn't have it. Same goes with Strawberry Plains United Methodist for the help us give us on behalf of our clients.

We're getting calls for help for Christmas. So far, three families are on the list. The cut off date for receiving help from Christmas in Jefferson County has passed. The Knoxville News Sentinel's Empty Stocking Fund will continue for little longer. That should help a few more families too. We're checking to see if you must be a Knox County resident.

In the meantime, we are taking a list for Jefferson County and hoping that people will donate toys or funds to help get toys.

Don't give up. We won't.

See ya online,

Gayle

Christmas Planning for 500

Chrismas Party plans are in the works. We'll be inviting all of the clients we've served in the past year. The menu will be simple. Cookies, milk, tea or water and smiles. We're collecting toys and hoping to give each child something to carry home. The guy in the red suit will be stopping in, small crafts will be made and lot of fun will be had by all.

But, we need volunteers! Face painting, Santa, games etc. won't happen without help. If you're willing and interested email me or phone the office. We can't wait to talk to you!

And it looks like we'll be participating in our first parade this year. Want to join us? Let me know!

Gayle

We're gearing up and getting ready. In a few days we'll be having an eBay posting blitz. This will help us raise funds for our client Christmas party to be held at our office. In the meantime, we've got a few things up including the "I Will Survive" teal bracelet which is perfect for sexual assault survivors and survivors of ovarian, cervical or uterine cancers, PCOS substance abuse and more!

Today, we began training a new person who will be helping with our eBay store. Marti is going to be a great assett. She'll be here to ensure our high standards are met by our great team of volunteers. We can't wait for her to get started!

Thanks for all of your support!

One Step Closer to a Hotline - TCASDV Visit

Hi,

We had a great visit from Elizabeth from the TCADSV. That stands for Tennessee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. It was awesome getting to show her our program and brag about what we do. I am so glad that they made the trip and am already looking forward to some great networking in the future!

A volunteer was impressed with us too. She already had an idea what we did but got a better view today. So good in fact, that she left this morning and started calling upon people she knows who own businesses. Are you ready to hear about the end result? Strawberry Plains will soon be getting a hotline of our very own! She was able to secure funding for this month and a pledge to cover the next 4 months. Go! Go! GO!

We'll be having a hotline training in December. Look for the date to be posted here as soon as we get the details finalized.

Some of you may have heard about the Volunteer Appreciation tonight. There was a problem with the printer and this has been rescheduled. Look for the date on this next month too!

Thanks for everything you all do to help us make hope happen in Strawberry Plains!

See you online,

Gayle

Strawberry Plains Community Meeting Tonight

Hi All,

We're puttering around the office this morning. An 11th hour Angel Food order just came in and we're tidying to get ready for Thursday night's Volunteer Appreciation.

Before things get too busy today I wanted to post a reminder about tonight's meeting of the Strawberry Plains Community Alliance. Tonight we'll be hearing from Mr. Leroy Thompson. He's an expert on community revitalization. This should be interesting for all of us!

As you know, Hope for Healing.Org is deeply involved in service to the people of Strawberry Plains, TN. We do a lot of great things from the clothing closet to working with victims of domestic violence but there are things we can't do.

The Alliance is working on what we can't. The Alliance can work on better roads, advocating for an improved library, developing a plan to improve the economic base and networking to provide fire and emergency services. Only a few generations ago Strawberry Plains was known through the southeast for the quality college that used to be here. I don't know if we'll ever get that back or not but I do know that by working together powerful things will happen. It all starts by showing up.

See you at 7:00 tonight at Rush Strong School. Better yet, see you and a friend.

Unexpected Heroes Win Big on Band Trip

In the midst of crisis ordinary people become extraordinary heroes. People in roles we take for granted become invaluable. Life, friends and the kindness of strangers become life preservers to the weary and hope to the hurting. We see this in cases of domestic violence, the nation saw it after Hurricane Katrina and my daughter’s high school band saw it on Saturday.

At 6:00 am this past Saturday, the appointed hour had come. Three chartered busses from Lambeth Bus Lines in Powell stood ready to take my daughter’s high school band to the state competition. You could cut the eager anticipation with a knife.

My eldest daughter was home from college for the event. The competition was to run late. My husband had to work. After finals, the three of us planned to stay in Nashville for some fun "girl time". Chatting excitedly, we started our car and my eldest and I began following the busses.

Several miles down the road our excitement turned to dismay. We saw sparks shooting out from under the bus in front of us. We phoned Lambeth in hopes they would notify the driver. No answer. Then, my elder daughter remembered having the band director’s cell phone number from when she was in the band before she graduated this past spring. We made the call immediately.

Soon, bus 605 (aka bus 3) pulled to the front of the convoy. In another few miles all the busses pulled to the side of the dark, predawn interstate so the driver could look at the tire. An off ramp was just ahead but the drivers had decided not to wait to look at the problem. After 5 minutes we were back on the road.

We made it about 100 miles before the bus required professional help from the day's first hero.

Some people may not consider a mechanic to be a hero. We do. If you don’t you will change your mind when it’s a frosty November morning and you are on a band trip with 150 teenagers. A repair truck was as welcome a sight to us adults as breakfast was to the impatient kids. In the time it took to feed the rowdy bunch the mechanic worked his magic to replace the badly damaged tire. In just over an hour we were back on the road.

I shudder to think about that tire on a bus loaded with kids. Was the mechanic a hero? Definitely!

The busses roared into the competition just in time for the students to dress and offload the gear. My elder daughter and I helped unload for a few minutes before going to buy our admission into the gate and get seats. While the kids were getting ready we hoped to watch the performances of specific bands. We were not disappointed in the performances and sat spellbound enjoying the shows. The competitive bar was set high. Even though our kids tried their hardest they did not make finals.

My younger daughter and her friends were heartbroken. She wanted to commiserate with her friends and begged me to cancel our plans so she could head home on the bus with her friends. New band plans were to eat at a restaurant on the way home instead of leaving the kids to find their own meal at the competition. No way was I going to allow my child to get back on those busses. As a compromise I consented to following the buses to wherever the dinner stop might be if she would agree to come home with me.

While she and I were negotiating my other daughter approached looking worried. Many of the kids knew her from her years as a band kid in this program. One troubled student revealed to my daughter that she had begun cutting and had fresh looking marks to prove it. Through volunteering, my daughter knew she had to report the abuse but wanted to get more information before doing so. With urgency we searched for my daughter's chaperone and began looking for a band director to report to before heading out.

Cookeville, Tennessee is a small town about halfway between Knoxville and Nashville. It is home to outlets, Tennessee Tech and our dinner. It boasted of a popular restaurant with the distinction of being Motorcoach Certified and was surrounded by other restaurants. This cluster would ultimately be our destination.

Nightfall came before we arrived at the restaurant. The busses pulled onto the side of the road at the edge of parking lot across the street from the cluster of restaurants. I pulled into the parking lot of the Golden Corral just as kids started pouring forth from the busses and scattering to the various restaurants. My daughter was torn in deciding which set of friends to follow to which restaurant. In the end, she decided to stay with my older daughter, the debit card and myself at the Golden Corral.

We were just finishing our meal when word came that disaster had struck. As soon as we were told what happened the group I was with made tracks for the door. Three of our girls tried to cross the street to get back to the busses. Two of them made it across to safety. The third was hit by a pickup truck and was now lying on the street.

I was told that almost at the same instant as the girl hit the cold asphalt a woman with medical background was there checking her. She saw what happened and stepped forward. Other heroes (many of them students) offered jackets that were put to use to help keep their friend warm. The band director said she saw it happen from across the parking lot and began running toward her as did the assistant band director who called 911. Within minutes, several squad cars sectioned off the area and the first responders and ambulance arrived.

The directors simultaneously tried frantically to summon a chaperone and to get to the busses to find the student forms, and to reassure the injured child. I asked the band director what the protocol is that we were to follow. She replied, "There is no protocol. There is no plan. This hasn't happened before." The injured girl was talking and able to give the cell phone number for her family to the band director. The paramedics were sliding the backboard underneath the injured girl just as the right book of student forms was found.

The band director pleaded to get the students on the busses. Students went without hesitation to gather the other scattered students. Immobile with dazed confusion the chaperones gathered. Kids comforted one another or handled the crisis by making jokes. The two girls who were almost hit and who saw their friend struck by the pickup were sitting huddled together on the concrete in front of the busses. The police would want to speak with them soon. A lone male chaperone towered above the girls keeping a silent watch.

Slowly, ordinary people – adults and students – stepped forward and became heroes.

A student led the way to check on the driver of the pickup truck and his daughter. Neither were hurt. When the driver came to the hospital later the band director gave him a full run-down on the student’s health condition and began taking him back to meet the child to help reassure him when her parents arrived. He said then that the student who talked with him at the scene was “a very big help to him and to his daughter” and begged us to thank him for being a hero.

The two friends of the injured student got most of my attention at the scene. I recognized one as the girl who confided in my daughter earlier. She looked up at me and numbly repeated “My friend got hit.” The officer spoke with them. I work with domestic violence victims and often see both victims of trauma and police officers. Never have I witnessed a more compassionate officer. He allowed the girl to use his cell phone to phone home for a comforting voice. This allowed her to bravely tell what she saw. With courageous effort, the other young woman was able to tell what happened in between showing concern for their friend.

Straggling students slowly made their way to the busses. My daughters took the pictures you see.

Kids watched helplessly from the busses as their friend was loaded into the ambulance and taken to the hospital. Later we found out that she would be airlifted to a trauma center. Kids with cell phones called home and loaned their cell phones to others to call home each trying to find comfort in their own way.
The chaperones broke their huddle and joined the students on board the busses just prior to pulling out for home.

Through it all, the band director never left her injured student.

Extraordinary events call ordinary people to become extraordinary heroes. When dealing with a school crisis such as an accident or shooting, a situation of domestic violence we find value in people we take for granted or forget.

A police officer shows extra compassion and helps a friend of the victim find even more composure to tell the story. The child seen as a problem by some becomes a witness who gives vital information that could help doctors know what kinds of injuries to check for first in her friend. A teacher responsible for 150 lives never moves from the life that suddenly hangs in the balance. A young assistant director finds the ability to pull together a cacophony of students and chaperones and reforms them into a functioning group to get them home.

When people step forward during a crisis like this it makes you proud but even more it gives you hope and reassurance. When ordinary people transform to do extraordinary things under extraordinary stress we are all transformed – hopefully inspired - to do all the good we can, for all the people we can, as we can.
__________________________________________________________________
The mechanic removes the dilapidated tire.


Two people in the middle of the street with the restaurant parking lot behind them. ---->





<-----My daughter stands under a light at the edge of the restaurant parking lot. The parking lot where the busses were is behind her.


Note: This blog may split into a professional and a private blog. For right now The Hope Blog is a personal blog. I'm considering beginning a personal youve been reviewed blog and donating this one to Hope for Healing.Org. Let me know what  you think.

Angel Food Forms Due Today. - Thanks Volunteer!

I'll be out of the office this afternoon. My younger daughter's band has a competition Saturday and my elder daughter wants to come home from college for it. This is great! It just means I have to go get her - from Kentucky.

Angel Food forms are due today by 5:00 pm. A volunteer will be at the office today from 3:00pm - 5:00 pm to collect forms. If you call and get a message don't hesitate to stop by. It may well just mean that she can't answer the phone at the moment. :-)

Thanks to all our volunteers. If you want to be a part of the work we do just let us know. Extra hands are always welcome!

See you online,
Gayle

Clothing Closet Record Set, Turkey Baskets Spoken For

Wow! That's all I can say. From the time we got here until the time we left we never stopped. It was amazing. This was the busiest day we have ever had in the clothing closet. Our record setting number was 39! All received clothing, some also received food pantry boxes and three were victims of domestic violence. A church let us know that they are willing to sponsor up to 6 Thanksgiving baskets for any of our clients who may need it. These are spoken for and we have a waiting list in case anyone cancels.

To all in our community, both local and worldwide, we thank you for what you make possible!

See you online,

Gayle

PS Board members, don't forget tonight's meeting @ 6:00 pm.