The end of the month is when it is hardest to stretch those last dollars, especially when it has gotten so cold and we have to pay to keep the heat on. Sometimes folks choose between heat and food, or just make do with not quite enough of either.
“I just press the toaster down and I have Graciella put her fingers just above it, where the heat comes out the top, before we go to school, because her fingers get so cold,” says Maritza. “At least it is warm at school.”
She is sitting around the table for a Parent Support and Education meeting of her Carson Under Five Thrive program. Under Five Thrive is a program for pregnant and parenting young people who are studying to get their GED, applying for jobs, or who are transitioning to college.
“Did you put your name in for a turkey?” asks Sally, who also participates in Under Five Thrive.
Sally is referring to the Thanksgiving Day Baskets at the Carson Center at Valley Human Services in Ware. For more than twenty years, students and faculty of Pathfinder Vocational Technical High School and staff of the Carson Center collect and buy enough turkeys and food items so that families can have a turkey with all the trimmings and dessert.
At first we were worried that we didn’t have quite enough turkeys for the families that needed the help the most, but then an anonymous Carson employee donated ten turkeys. Fifty-four baskets were made. Some workers drove the baskets to families’ homes, as arranged; some families were able to come and pick up the baskets themselves.
This is also the time of year that some Carson staff search their closets for gently used kids’ clothing, wash them and bring them in for families who might need them. It isn’t an organized effort, like the Thanksgiving Baskets; it just happens naturally.
A Carson staff person was in the conference room waiting to help one of the families who was coming to get a Thanksgiving Basket. She was opening her donation bag with some children’s coats in it, when a mom and her son arrived. The day was bitterly cold. The son looked about seven years old. He was wearing a thin sweatshirt.
“Hey, do you know of someone who might need a boys’ winter coat?” the Carson staff member asked.
“We need a coat,” the mom said. She gestured to her son. The Carson staff member kneeled and helped him get his arms in the coat and placed some winter mittens in the pockets. “Wow!” said the boy, “This is so warm!”
The mom and staff member wrestled the heavy Thanksgiving Basket off the table. The mom handed her son a cherry pie in a box. “Can you please help me by carrying this out? You have to be gentle.”
“Do you have a good recipe?” staff asked, nodding towards the heavy frozen turkey.
“This will be the first time we’ve ever had a turkey on Thanksgiving, so, I guess I better find one!”
Staff opened the door, so they could pass through, arms full.
By JAC Patrissi
