Two reasons and an update

Amazing move yesterday — a mother and 4-year-old boy. Don’t you want to know why?

Two reasons.

First, due to a failure to communicate, I didn’t get the word until Sunday evening, and didn’t get the notice out until 9:04 pm. I was sure nobody would see it until Monday morning and that I would be stuck for volunteers.

Not OTS. I had half the crew commit before 10:30 pm, and the rest came flooding in Monday morning. In fact, I had to turn down several of you, lest we be overwhelmed. In fact, we were overwhelmed anyway because once we had the crew together, four volunteers just showed up. The move went well thanks to our stalwarts: Phil Burroughs, Doug Free (and his truck), Jim Gleason (and his truck), Bob Hamilton, Joe Haynos, Bob Kane, Amy Hamilton, Lisa Johnson, Cathy Monge, Cindy Pozluszny, Kelly Costello and her son Gus Costello.

We also had three studs from St. Pat’s Youth who handled the heavy lifting. They are great guys and a wonderful addition to our team. Once the move was done, I told them they could leave, but they said they wanted to stay for the group prayer. These are men of substance.

Shout out to Amy Hamilton who, during the loading process, noticed one of the tables we were going to give out had some minor scratches and paint stains on it. She insisted we go with another table while she and Bob took the damaged one home to make repairs. That, my friends, is pride of ownership.

Second amazing thing.

When the move was done and the volunteers started to head home, Lisa Johnson finished up in the kitchen, and the little boy was digging through the toys and books we provided. He asked if someone would read a book to him, and even though everyone else was gone, Lisa sat down and did just that. When they finished, Lisa asked for a hug and got a real squeezer. I waited for Lisa, and the boy came over to me. I thought he wanted a high five, but he hugged my leg. When he pulled away, I could see he was wiping tears from his eyes. Too tough to cry, but he couldn’t help himself.

I tell you these stories not to tug at your heartstrings (though Susie Dyer and Nancy Burgess would have been a sobbing mess had they been there), but to remind you that what we do means more to the families we help than we can ever know.

Thanks, as always, to the Toy and Book Committee. The stuffed polar bear you gave him sits proudly on his new bed. The bear’s name is (tentatively) “Stuffy,” but it is believed that will change from time to time.

Hotel update.

Finally, we are in motion on the Holiday Inn that is shutting down in Arlington. The demolition crew has the keys, and Mike Dyer, Joe Haynos, and our fearless leader Deacon Jim Nalls will go over on Wednesday to survey the site and make a plan for our furniture pickup. We have some tentative dates from Metropolitan, and if it all comes together, we will be asking for a large crew to join us on an upcoming Saturday to help us make it happen. We believe, if everything works right, we can secure enough items to last OTS for most of this year.

Details to follow.

Thanks again to all who went on the move, all who wanted to go, and, in advance, to all who will join us at the hotel in the near future. OTS does great things, and it is all because of you.