I went out on a fire call tonight. It was one of the extra sad ones. A single man with a little daughter. Their place was destroyed. She had two cats. One died, one might not make it. They lost all of their belongings, including the little girls hand knitted ‘blankie‘ that she sleeps with every night. One of the things I get to do is take them a little bag of much needed things like a toothbrush, soap, wash cloth and shampoo. We also give out blankets, especially nice for those fires that wake them up in the middle of the night and all they got out with was the pjs they were wearing, (if that much). But the best thing I get to give out to the kids is a little stuffed animal.
So tonight, there stood this man…without anything left except his daughter and a dying cat…telling me he didn’t even have a toothbrush left and then I got to hand him the little goodie bag of things that we don’t even think about not having until we don‘t have them. It just amazed him to open it and pull out a toothbrush! In addition to those things, I gave them the other normal things Red Cross helps with…temporary hotel, some money for food and a new set of clothing and a coat, but it was that knitted blanket and a little stuffed cat that made the biggest difference to that little girl whose cat died today. You will never believe that out of the whole box of animals that I have here, when I randomly grabbed one out before leaving for the fire, the one I happened to pick was a cute little tiger cat! The cat that died was a tiger! And that blanket I left with her…it was hand knitted! not the normal blankets we give, but the kind that was given to me last time I restocked my disaster box.
He didn’t want to take the assistance, but I convinced him that it was OK to let people help you once in a while. They both were so grateful. He had his daughter wrapped in her new blanket clinging to her new stuffed cat as they waved goodbye to me as I drove off. I feel so guilty when I leave a fire feeling like I took more than I left behind. Tonight was one of those nights.
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