Dec 23 2008
Christmas Giving
With Christmas upon us, I find myself becoming more and more depressed about my own situation. As I have stated in previous postings, I am unemployed and having a very hard time finding a job. My husband is also not working, it’s not that he doesn’t have a job, because he does, he works for the railroad but has been furloughed for the better part of the year and some of last year as well. Between our two unemployment checks, we are barely getting by. We have cursed the railroad for hiring him and then laying him off less than 1 year later, but yesterday at least, some of our faith in the railroad and the humanity of people has been renewed.
We have been worried because our 3 year old granddaughter deserves a nice Christmas. She is looking forward to Santa bringing her toys and with her mother struggling as well, we were not going to be able to help her with this. Yesterday, my husband received an email from the railroad Employee Association saying that they were giving food baskets and toys to those furloughed employees who needed the help. My husband, at first, was not going to respond to the email because he is a “proud German” man who does not accept charity. Well, I am not so proud, not anymore! I told him to write back and tell them that we would like to receive a food basket and a toy for our granddaughter who is living with us at the moment. He wrote the letter and less than 2 hours later we received a phone call asking for our address so that they could deliver it to us! WOW!
Later that day, my granddaughter and I were watching Sprout cartoons and there was a knock on the door. I called my husband to answer it because I was sure it was the railroad, and it was! The guy had a huge smile on his face and a big green plastic bin that was VERY heavy! We brought it in and he ran back to his van to get another one! Now, I have to tell you that this was very “De Ja Vu” for me from a Christmas I had long ago (See my blog on “My Most Memorable Christmas “) . We thanked the railroader and came inside and opened the bin that he just brought in…. it was FULL of toys!! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! There were at least 7 full sized toys, a Barbie Doll, a plastic container with misc. games, doll clothes, bubble bath and a bunch of other great stuff for our little girl! Santa had indeed visited our home. The food bin was equally full of food and goodies and included a $50.00 gift card to a local grocery store!
Now, we are excited about Christmas and we feel blessed and very grateful to the railroaders who donated the food and toys to the drive that they had conducted for all the furloughed employees. The railroad company may seem to be heartless, but the employees certainly are very generous and in the holiday spirit. To the railroad employees, and to all of you I would like to say “MERRY CHRISTMAS” and Thank you!
