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Friday, May 05, 2006
Bake Sale For Body Armor Experiences, Day One
This could be a long post. I am tired and I'm still baking more goodies for tomorrow. I am in awe. Camp Casey was a breath-taking experience, and today was beyond even that.
It was a cold and rainy night... er day... we about froze our butts off.
I got to Applejack Liquor before any other bake sale people (If you live in Colorado, support this place - it is the best. I guess they don't have a website, but go to Epinions and scroll down a ways to see what they have to say). I took the table out of my truck, carried it to the sidewalk, walked back to the truck, and a woman stopped me and asked if I was with the bake sale. She had seen Gaye's interview on Channel 9 news at noon today. She gave me $20.
We probably made over $400 in the first hour or hour and a half - and we made over $1200 during the four hours we were there. It was magic. People just came and gave us money! Our $1200 will buy four people side body armor. Maybe tomorrow we will earn another four sets!
The most touching stories -
A man parked his bike in front of our table. He went into the store and when he came out, he said that he was a veteran, and his son is now serving in Afghanistan. When Gaye asked him when his son was sent there, the man told her and teared up, which caused Gaye to tear up, which caused me to tear up. Ahhhh... God, I was ready to go home at that point. Broken hearts... He gave us $80.
A woman gave me a $50 as she walked by. She told me that her employee's son died in Iraq, because he didn't have the body armor that he needed.
We have a $100 bill in our bag. We don't know who gave it to us or when.
Many vets told their stories... purple hearts from Viet Nam, remembering their dead friends from Viet Nam. Families told their stories about their sons, daughters, friends, and boyfriends who are serving overseas in our military. So many people touched by these wars, so many people brought together by these wars. I am glad that we are brought together. I wish it were for a different purpose. I saw the pain of so many. And that is the pain of Americans only. I cannot comprehend the pain that Iraqis have. So far, we are very removed from war. Take the pain I saw today and multiply it beyond our imaginations...
We heard people who believe in the war, just not in a lack of protection for our troops; people who are madder than hell that our gov doesn't support the troops better; people that think this war sucks; people that served in our military and would do it again in a second; people with NRA t-shirts, people, people, people. We ALL care about our kids. WE ALL CARE ABOUT THE KIDS. We are all human and we all have hearts and care about the children and want to do something to help.
Whenever I feel cynical about humanity, I want to remember this day.
If you don't live in the Denver area, and you want to help, you can donate at www.bakesalesforbodyarmor.org.
Oh, and I want to applaud to Karen who sent out the press release. Gaye and I were just thinking that we would sell to the people who happened to show up at Applejack's. Having press there brought way more traffic and awareness. And thank you to all of the people who baked and contributed goodies! And to the people who stopped by our table and contributed money, stories, connection - thank you from the bottom of my soul. I hope those people know that they changed my life. (Should I be thanking my parents who made my life possible now?).
And I wonder... with all of the love that floats through our world, why do we forget it sometimes?
It was a cold and rainy night... er day... we about froze our butts off.
I got to Applejack Liquor before any other bake sale people (If you live in Colorado, support this place - it is the best. I guess they don't have a website, but go to Epinions and scroll down a ways to see what they have to say). I took the table out of my truck, carried it to the sidewalk, walked back to the truck, and a woman stopped me and asked if I was with the bake sale. She had seen Gaye's interview on Channel 9 news at noon today. She gave me $20.
We probably made over $400 in the first hour or hour and a half - and we made over $1200 during the four hours we were there. It was magic. People just came and gave us money! Our $1200 will buy four people side body armor. Maybe tomorrow we will earn another four sets!
The most touching stories -
A man parked his bike in front of our table. He went into the store and when he came out, he said that he was a veteran, and his son is now serving in Afghanistan. When Gaye asked him when his son was sent there, the man told her and teared up, which caused Gaye to tear up, which caused me to tear up. Ahhhh... God, I was ready to go home at that point. Broken hearts... He gave us $80.
A woman gave me a $50 as she walked by. She told me that her employee's son died in Iraq, because he didn't have the body armor that he needed.
We have a $100 bill in our bag. We don't know who gave it to us or when.
Many vets told their stories... purple hearts from Viet Nam, remembering their dead friends from Viet Nam. Families told their stories about their sons, daughters, friends, and boyfriends who are serving overseas in our military. So many people touched by these wars, so many people brought together by these wars. I am glad that we are brought together. I wish it were for a different purpose. I saw the pain of so many. And that is the pain of Americans only. I cannot comprehend the pain that Iraqis have. So far, we are very removed from war. Take the pain I saw today and multiply it beyond our imaginations...
We heard people who believe in the war, just not in a lack of protection for our troops; people who are madder than hell that our gov doesn't support the troops better; people that think this war sucks; people that served in our military and would do it again in a second; people with NRA t-shirts, people, people, people. We ALL care about our kids. WE ALL CARE ABOUT THE KIDS. We are all human and we all have hearts and care about the children and want to do something to help.
Whenever I feel cynical about humanity, I want to remember this day.
If you don't live in the Denver area, and you want to help, you can donate at www.bakesalesforbodyarmor.org.
Oh, and I want to applaud to Karen who sent out the press release. Gaye and I were just thinking that we would sell to the people who happened to show up at Applejack's. Having press there brought way more traffic and awareness. And thank you to all of the people who baked and contributed goodies! And to the people who stopped by our table and contributed money, stories, connection - thank you from the bottom of my soul. I hope those people know that they changed my life. (Should I be thanking my parents who made my life possible now?).
And I wonder... with all of the love that floats through our world, why do we forget it sometimes?
posted by Carol at 10:06 PM
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