Nothing drives home the impact of a program like Bag It Forward better than personal stories. I would like to share with you this story as told by one of our participating bloggers.
I did my shopping and whrrl and blog posts for the Bag it Forward campaign. At the time I did my shopping, which included grabbing a few things here and there along the way over the course of a few weeks, I really didn’t have a child or family in mind. I approached there families during that time but they had either already purchased supplies or their school sold kits and they had purchased those.
I simply took the list for kindergarten and doubled it so that I could give to a child in one of the classes (there are 3)
Last night as I came rolling in from after another day at the baseball park I was beat down. Not only was I exhausted from the sun, the driving and the pile of laundry in my family room floor, I was behind on a few columns and needed to just catch up. However, my mom said that my son had cried for me the night before. This kid has never been a momma’s boy, preferring my mom to me any time. But, he was with her while I was gone and was upset because I wasn’t home yet.
When he arrived home last night, he wanted to sit in my lap, hug on me, and just lay on me and kiss me over and over. He asked if we could go out to eat and I first said no. Then, I realized that he was needing my attention and although it was almost 8 pm, we headed out. The plans were a place close, like within 10 miles or so. But, he asked for a place in particular so we obliged him. He eats well, likes fruits and veggies and this place offers that so how could we say no.
Once inside and seated, the server approached our table. Since we eat there often, this was a young girl that we had talked with before. I knew a little bit about her but mostly it was always small talk. Anyway, she asked me about the school where my kids go and told me her son was registered to start kindergarten there this fall. She inquired about the “meet the teacher” meeting and I explained it to her.
Without even realizing what I was doing, I asked her if she had purchased the laundry list of supplies that are required by our school. She turned white as a ghost. She kind of nodded her head in the negative and I could tell I had hit a nerve. As soon as I realized that she was in a predicament that wasn’t comfortable, I practically yelled, “GOOD THEN DON’T”. I had my family and student in need and it was just that easy. She indicated that she had not even seen the list and didn’t know what was on it.
I didn’t have my list with me but I knew I had almost everything on it minus maybe some kleenex and hand sanitizer. She looked at me funny when I yelled out and I backed up to explain about the Elmer’s Glue campaign and the Bag it Forward. I got her name and number and found out that she is working all day today. I am taking Jace to get his shots later today as I am a bad parent and have been putting it off. He isn’t even registered for school yet…ooops.
They are pushing our start date back due to funding so I just kept pushing the shot date back too. Anyway, I’m gathering my supplies for this young girl (maybe 22 or 23) and I will make another photo of them to share here. I also told her that I would bring those supplies to her today and would go by and get the rest of the items on the list so all she would have to worry about would be his backpack and PE shoes. And, truth be known, I probably have shoes from the boys that have been hardly worn that will fit him for that purpose since they have to leave them at school anyway.
I’m going to ask today when I take this package to her at work.
I told you all that to say, when she left our table to go get our drinks, she had tears in her eyes. She just continued to thank me and almost every time she approached our table, she left in tears.
You all know I’ve done these campaigns before but for some reason, this one has me by the heart strings and I’m not sure if I can recover. Thanks to CB and Elmer’s for allowing me to take part in this campaign. The bottom line is this……….you guys rock!
