From the Heart
This morning was the donation drop for the Cub Scouts. I had Green Eyes, Yellow Fur, R3 and Kim join myself and another Scouter in donating the Toys collected from our Toy Drive in November.
It was an early morning for us (if you call 9:30am early on a Sunday) where we meet up at our regular meeting place. There was excitement. My father-in-law (and retired Scouter!) was kind enough to offer to shuttle us around since I don’t have a lot of experience driving with a vehicle full of youth. As we piled into the mini van, the youth chattered about something to do with Minecraft, or something.
First stop, BC Children’s Hospital.
It was a few of my Cub’s first time seeing the hospital up close and personal (thank goodness for that). Before we went in, I explained a few basic things:
- use the sanitizer when you enter and before we leave
- keep out of the way of the staff, you never know if they are on their way to save a life
- try not to stare at the youth we may pass
Why did I make a point of the last one? Well, to get were we needed to donate the presents, we had to pass the oncology centre and cardiovascular centre. Wasn’t exactly my personal favourite way to go, but the other option was to go through the ER.
We met with a lovely Volunteer at the hospital, took a moment to show off what the Cubs had brought, completed the donation and took a group photo. Our volunteer told us that if the gifts couldn’t be used for Christmas, they would hold on to them and give them to children on their birthday or after a really big surgery. Hopefully, we helped make a few sick children’s Christmas with our gifts.
Without any time to reflect, we were off to our next gift giving – Springhouse. Singing carols as we drove across town feeling uplifted and empowered.
On a scale of 1 to a lot, Springhouse got about 70% of total the total inventory. Ranging from clothing for childs and mothers, to board games and kaleidoscope. Of course, there was Green Eye’s donation. Before entering, I reminded the Cubs not to stare at the guests of the place for donation.
We were warmly met by my contact and shown around the reception area.
After learning more about how our gifts will help the different families at Springhouse, the Cubs (and Kim) present couldn’t have been prouder. They showed off the Pack had donated with smiles and chattered with excitement. There was this little girl that poked her eyes around a corner, looking at us scared. One of the Cubs noticed them and waved. With just that little bit of encouragement, she came out and started to glow. My heart broke a little as I took note of the black bruise going from her jaw line to under her eye. That’s when it hit home for the Cubs.
What happened with Green Eye’s generous donation? Well, it was packaged nicely and he had the honour to present it.
When all was said and done, the pack was pleasantly surprised when they were given something in return – a certificate of appreciation from the managing company of Springhouse. While we were departing, we happened to pass a resident of Springhouse who was wearing slightly worn clothing. Silently, we knew that they didn’t have much, but on Christmas that would change.
And that made it all worth it for the Cubs.
I can’t wait till our Christmas Party to have the four youth who came with me today present the certificate and talk about what we did and the impact we made on what I estimate to be at least 40 families (for 20 kids donating stuff, that’s 2 families per Cub. THAT’S AMAZING!)
Want to learn more about how you can help? Read about some ideas in my post: Community Involvement
