Chapter 14
On the third of November, Joe took Mary and Matt out to lunch. He took them to Jack’s Diner where he had first met them one year earlier. While they were eating, Joe asked them if they would like to help people in the community for Thanksgiving.
Joe told them that he had volunteered to help cook and serve Thanksgiving dinner at a shelter for abused women and children. Joe told them that their mother had given permission for them to join him if they wanted to help.
Both of them agreed to help. After they finished cleaning up, they would go home to their own Thanksgiving dinner, which their mother would cook with help from Mark, Luke and John.
On the morning of Thanksgiving Day, Joe, Matt and Mary arrived at 6 o’clock to start cooking. There were several other volunteers there as well. The shelter was home for abused women and children, but it also took in homeless women and children as well. The shelter was at full capacity. They would be serving over 250 women and children.
Mary and Matt had never worked so hard in their lives. It was hot in the kitchen and they stayed busy all morning.
When the food was ready, they started setting up the tables and chairs. At 11 o’clock am, they opened up the doors to the dining room and started serving dinner. Matt and Mary were tired from working for five hours in the kitchen, but they suddenly got more energy, when they saw all of the children and women coming in for a free meal. As they served the people, they forgot their fatigue and realized that all of their hard work had been worth it.
Everybody that Matt and Mary served food to, said thank you and had a big smile on their faces. Matt was serving the pumpkin pie, Mary was serving the mashed potatoes and Joe was serving the salad.
As Matt was serving pie to a four year old girl, the girl put down her plate, went up to Matt and gave him a great big hug and said “Happy Thanksgiving Mister”. Matt’s eyes lit up and he had a great big grin on his face as he hugged her and said “Happy Thanksgiving to you too”.
After everyone had been served, and the food was gone, all of the volunteers pitched in to clean up the kitchen and the dining room. It was 4:30 pm when they finished and headed home to their families.
When Joe, Matt and Mary walked into their house, they could smell turkey and pumpkin pie. Betty and the younger kids were putting the food on the table.
As everyone stood around the table, they held hands while Joe said a blessing. When he was finished, Matt asked if he could add something. He said “Dear God, Thank you for giving us enough to eat, and a house to live in. Please look after those less fortunate people who do not have enough to eat, or a place to live, especially the children of the world.” Matt paused and then he added; “And God, wherever my father is today, please bless him and take care of him and help him overcome his problems. Amen”
As everyone started eating, Matt and Mary talked about how good it felt to cook for and to serve those people at the shelter.
Mary asked her mom and Joe if they could do something like that for Christmas. Joe and Betty thought it was a great idea, but since Christmas was only four weeks away, they would have to organize it quickly.
All of the kids discussed it and they decided to collect money and donations of toys and clothing from businesses and individual donors and give the clothing and toys to as many children in the San Francisco area as they could.
John came up with the name for the project. He said it should be called “Kids Caring for Kids”. Over the next few days, Joe, Matt, Mary and Betty drafted up a letter, which they sent to all of the businesses, churches and schools in San Francisco explaining what they were trying to do, and asking for donations of new clothes, toys, and monetary donations. They explained that the donations were needed within three weeks, so that they could have gifts purchased and wrapped in time for Christmas.
They printed over 3000 copies of the letter and started addressing them to every business, church and school listed in the phone book. They also composed a letter asking for the names and ages and sizes of needy children from the San Francisco area, and mailed the letters to every church, school, and public service agency in the city.
Joe set up a website called ‘kidscaringforkids.com’ and explained what they were trying to accomplish. Joe explained that the idea came from two kids who were trying to make a difference in San Francisco. Joe stated that every donor would be listed on the website unless they chose to remain anonymous. The website also listed the address to send the donations to.
SaraCom was one of the first companies to send in a donation. It donated $25,000. Of course, only Betty knew that Joe was the owner and CEO of SaraCom. Francisco’s Restaurant also donated $10,000.
Within a week, donations were pouring in from all over the city. Joe’s lawyer; Benjamin Isaacson contacted Mary and Matt and offered his legal services free of charge to Kids Caring for Kids.
When the project got too big for just Mary and Matt to handle, they enlisted other kids from their schools and from their church. They also had a few adults volunteer to help them as well. As the lists of needy children started coming in, they started matching up names with gifts and clothing. The toy and clothing stores that did not donate merchandise; offered huge discounts for KCK, to purchase the toys and clothing. By December 20th, they had received over $500,000 in donations and at least that much in donations of toys and clothing.
The church had volunteered their building to sort, wrap and match up the presents. There were over 100 teenagers shopping, wrapping, and delivering the presents to the schools, churches, and shelters. Each child got at least one toy, and at least one suit of clothes. Some kids got coats and shoes as well.
When everything was finished, they had clothes and toys for over 5,000 needy children in the San Francisco area. When Matt and Mary were asked to be interviewed for newspaper articles, they agreed to it, but only if their names were not mentioned. If photos were taken, it had to be of the whole group of volunteers who helped with the project. Matt and Mary wanted the focus to be on the needy children, and the homeless, and not on themselves. In return for the interviews, they insisted that the newspapers list all the businesses who donated to their cause.
When the article came out in the newspaper, their website started receiving letters from many people commending them for their work and charity, as well as from the families of the children they had helped.
They received letters from the mayor of San Francisco, the governor of California as well as ones from CEOs of Fortune 500 companies in the San Francisco area, pledging money for the next year’s KCK campaign. None of the letters, however, made Mary and Matt feel as good as the warm feeling they had deep inside, from helping those in need.
Even with this project, Mary and Matt still had time for studying, sports, and choir practice at church. They found the time to help Joe and their family cut down a Christmas tree and decorate the house for the holidays.
The rest of their brothers were rehearsing for their parts in the Christmas pageant, as well as practicing for the Children’s choir, which would perform on Christmas Eve.
Joe was busy directing the pageant, and working with KCK. He also was taking his final exams. He went to the College Registrar’s office, to pick up his college diploma without any fanfare, which was the way he wanted it.
Christmas Eve arrived, and that afternoon, the church was packed for the Christmas pageant. The children did a terrific job and they received a standing ovation when it was over.
That evening, during the Christmas Eve service, the children’s choir sang so beautifully, that the congregation was speechless.
On Christmas morning, while the younger children opened their presents, Matt and Mary were still basking in the success of their project. They knew that over needy 5000 children would be having presents to open up that morning. Joe and Betty both told them how proud they were of them.
Over Chr
istmas break, Joe converted his workshop in the garage into a wood shop, bought power tools, and started teaching Matt, Mary, Luke and Mark how to make furniture. After he had taught them to be safe, and not to use any tools when he was not in the wood shop, they began working on their first family project.
As Betty watched her daughter and sons working alongside of Joe making a coffee table, she was amazed at how well they worked together without fighting. In just a year since moving into Joe’s house, the kids had developed good manners, were doing outstanding in school, and were taking music lessons.
Mary and Mark were taking piano lessons, Matt was learning to play the guitar and Luke had just started taking saxophone lessons. The children were active in church choir, as well as their school choirs. Mark and Luke were in the Boy Scouts, and Matt had joined the newspaper staff at school.
Mary was playing tennis and was swimming, and Matt was playing basketball and was on the track team.
At home, the kids occasionally argued, and got into fights, but at school, they looked out for each other. They would not let anyone push around their siblings.
Mary was boy crazy, and Matt was girl crazy and both of them were very popular at school. Betty was very proud of her children and very proud of Joe for all he had done for her family.