mission of hope

for those of you unfamiliar with the mission of hope, it is an organization that reaches thousands of people in parts of tennessee and kentucky applachians. these people are among the poorest of the poor in our nation. the people i have personally come in contact are a wonderful group and they live in conditions most of us turn our noses up at. they tend to provide for their families below poverty levels and most have little or no means of support. there are no jobs in these "wilderness" type areas. they are born here, live here and die here. i would guess alot of them never leave the area and probably never will.
my trip to harlan county, ky. was a cold day. we left about 0630 and arrived about 0900. the roads at best are paved? and narrow. it is a tight fit in a 45' coach. most of the roads both the left and right sides of my bus were over the lines.
we pulled up to a school that was k-8 and even with 9 grades it was small. the road was so narrow, i literally had to drive back into "town" just to turn around so i could get back in the parking lot. once parked, i headed back into the school. as i was walking down the sidewalk in front of the school, i noticed a deer leg laying on the ground. what a contrast to my "comfy" world. here at home, if someone found a deer leg they would call 911 for a hazmat crew to come and clean it up. probably become a superfund site!!! but here, it was accepted.
i walked into the gym and saw table after table with covered up toys for all the kids in this school. the group i took there was from Christ Covenant Church in knoxville. long story short, after a skit, it was time for the kids to go "shopping". i was taken back as i stood there and this kid, about 11 or 12 with red, curly hair came up to me and hugged me. he said "thanks for coming up here and what you do. Merry Christmas". i said "Merry Christmas" and off he went to sit with his classmates. a few minutes later, thru the view finder of my video camera, i spotted a boy who has his head "buzzed". next to him sat his brother who had no hair due to chemo. the look in their eyes was one of emptiness. i had to get some fresh air.
after i composed myself, the kids screamed with joy when the tarps covering their gifts was removed.
i remember child after child asking if they could get one more gift for their little brother or sister. they were allowed 2 gifts each. i also remember those who got one gift for themselves and another for a brother or sister.
after we cleaned up and ate, the leaders were given a large stack of thank you notes from the kids. one in particular came from a girl named "amber" (name changed). her note said she 11 and she told of it being a hard year for her mom. her dad had died earlier in the year and sometimes they had no food. the only money her mother got was a check from the government. she told of her brother who could not puts words together to make a sentence. then it hit me-she was thanking us for her Christmas because that was all she was going to get. on the bus, the leader talked about the fact that if not for the mission of hope there would be no Christmas for most of these kids.
i flashed back to my own youth. Christmas coming, making out a list, go see santa claus, and then waiting for Christmas eve. growing up, Christmas was almost magical. the anticipation of all those gifts was enough to always be on my best behavior. getting to open them was a time of intensiveness i can't describe. these kids have and will not experience that. santa was not real and never had been. there was no fantasy here. only reality. and their reality was a very harsh one.
God Bless the works of the mission of hope and all they do. this is only one facet of the works these volunteers do. for more information, go to www.missionofhope.org.
my life was made different that day. i will do it again without having to think about it. my heart was changed as was my outlook. giving is truly a joy.
until next time...