Email Requests

[The Mailman]

I'm not sure if I should post this stuff or not, but will post anyway.

I placed an ad on a local web bulletin board on the 11th of December that read:

Howdy,

As you are probably aware, the economy this year has left many in a hardship situation. Many times you don't even know that it's happening to a family as there are quite a few humble folks here in The Dalles that are hellbent to make it on their own without asking for help.

If you happen to know of a family who is in this situation, we may be able to help them by making a small toy donation so that their child receives "something" rather than "nothing"

If you feel compelled to intervene, please drop me a line and advise of the situation and we'll see what we can do.

I posted a similar ad last year and a fella responded via email that I am probably a predator looking for addresses of children to prey on. While that is a fairly protective and astute observation (I share that sentiment as well sometimes, lots of scumbags on the net preying on kids), that isn't the case here. Im not looking for anybody's home address or phone number. You would be coming to us at a specified location (local church) on Friday, December 18th around 4PM.

Please do not take advantage of this situation. There are children in need out there and for a person to abuse this opportunity is downright evil. Sorry that I have to mention that, but there are always a few people lacking conscience including a young local businessman who clears 6 figures a year (whose name I won't mention) that showed up loading up goodies as fast as humanly possible for God only knows what reason.

Thanks for your time. Please holler if we can be of assistance to a child in need.

Happy Holidays Ya'll!

Sincerely,
Santa's Helper

Below, I will post the three responses we have gotten so far.

The reason I'm posting this is to show that the need is real and to show everybody how important this toy drive is to many people out there. Sad but true.

[The Mailman]

Hello,
My Name is Michon, I'm 24 years old and a single mother of 2 daughters. My oldest Sohayla is 6, and My youngest Saffire is 2 almost 3 on december 20th. I saw you ad and i think it is a very nice thing you are doing. I recently lost my job due to my youngest child being ill, and I was missing work.I have been working to support my family in one way or another scence I was 13 years old. There was recently a few break-ups in my family and as I always have I took In family members.I have lived on my own scence I was 14. My 2 girls are angels and there smiles is what keepsme going, my oldest does her best to to take some of the stress off of me by helping pick up and with her little sister.My youngest is a doll and is always trying to cheer me up.If I could I would give these girls the world on a golden plate.Rite now I am unable to to give them even a new toy. My landlord has now evicted me from our home. I spoke with her last month about possibly working with me and she said she would and now needless to say I found myself being served paper, and am evicted. I must pack up and be out by the 31st. I have noware to go no family to stay with and unable to rent a place because of funds.I am reciving HUD asst. but my voucher will not be valid till my current landlord clears that everything is ok on my current deposit. So needless to say I am unable to Do anything for my youngest daughter for her birthday and have been unsuccesful on preparing a christmas for my girls as well,and to top things off we don't even have a place to call home anymore.Any help at would be wonderful. We hae always opened our hearts and home if we could in hopes that we would get the same love and respct in return but it seems that our friend and family have turned away when we need them the most but were more then happy to be around when things were well. I have been working my harest to be able to get off other state help such as food stamps and such. I accomplshed this towards the beging of this year and was so proud that I was doing so good, I have never been the one to ask anyone for help, but rite now i know i have to set my pride aside and I am asking for help. My girls are the world to me and they deserve the very best in my eyes. They are both very giving and kind hearted and I know if they were able,they would give there most favirot toy to some other child in need just to put a smile on there face these girls would do it. I'm asking PLEASE help me give my girls a christmas?
Lots of thanks
God bless you
Michon

Predictem Response:
Hi Michon,

I am sorry to hear of your current issue. Have you found somewhere to stay such as a shelter or other place? I believe there is assistance for such situations.

As far as gifts go, yes, we can surely help. Are you available to come to a local church on Friday, December 18th at around 3:45pm? (in the dalles)

Please advise, thanks,

Kevin

Email 2:
Hello,
Yes I am able to be at a local chirch december 18th at 3:45, Please just let me know which one i need to go to. I would like to tell you thank you so much for even just heaaring me out and showing kindness and concern, it realy does mean alot to me and I kno it will to my girls as well. I recived some numbers today of people that mite be able to help me with the other issues.Again I thank you for your help.God bless you.

Sincearly,
Michon

[The Mailman]

Well I am one of those families with very litte but I would like to help hand out these gifts if you need help. I talk to my kids and let them know that we have a roof over out heads and food and that there are alot of other people worse off than us. Christmas is all about giving of your time or what you can. Thank you for sharing your time and money to better a childs life.

Predictem Response:

Hi,

Thank you for your email. We will be distributing gifts to multiple groups (freedom house, haven women's shelter, church's, etc) on Friday, December 18th at 3:30 PM. We'd be more than happy to help you out with some gifts for your kids if you're having financial issues.

As far as help goes, we'll be moving stuff from storage to the Calvary Baptist Church gym earlier in the day to set up a display to photograph so we can put it on the website where we receive donations from in which our members/readers/donators/sponsors will be able to see.

If you're interested in helping unbag and build the display we'd be more than happy to accept your offer to assist.

Please advise, thanks!

Kevin

[The Mailman]

Email 1:
hello my name is sarah, i know the add said that if i knew someone to respond but it is me that needs some help we had some problems with the bank last month and are paying for it this month. the month befor that we had moved into a house. this moth i am barley scraping by trying to get my stuff out of storage so we can have furniture and beds not to mention our christmas tree. we have 5 children and are haveing some trouble affording gifts if you could possibly help with one present for each of them i would greatly apreaceate it. thank you for your time and hope to hear back from you soon. merry christmas
-sarah-


Predictem Response:

Hi Sarah,

What gender and ages are your children?

Do you have any suggestions for gift ideas? If so, please try to keep ideas to the 10-20 dollar range as it turns out, we're looking at providing for nearly 250 kids.

Would you be able to come to a local church in the dalles on Friday, December 18th at 3:30-4pm to pick these things up?

Please advise, thanks,

Kevin


Email 2:

hello, yes i would be able to pick the presents up and i really apreciate your help.
my boy is 5 and he likes dinosars, ninja turtles, transformers, swords, stuff like that. my oather four children are all girls. they are 4, 2 (will be three in january) 1 and 3 months. the 4 year old has been really into babys since i had the new one but has really been wanting a barby house. my 2 year old really likes dress up stuff, unicorns, barbies, stuff like that, my one year old is really into elmo, things that light up, talk or make noise prferably learning toys. and my baby is into things that she can chew on that make noise. she can't sit up or crawl yet but plays on her tummy. what church is it and what is the adress?

[Daws1089]

Thanks for sharing these Kevin. It's nice to know what is going on. Out of curiosity, how does the gift giving work? Do the people in need get one gift per child? 2 gifts per child? or do they get whatever they want for a total of $20?

[Kevin]

Hi Daws,

I don't have the exact numbers in front of me but it broke down to like 2.33 gifts per kid.

All the toys were setup in a big display (for the picture) and all the groups showed up at 3:30'ish to "kinda" go off their request lists and grab stuff.

The groups are all very humble and are always cautious and worried that they're taking too much (which is never seems to be the case).

It worked out well. I'll do a full summary of everything with full detail shortly after Christmas.

It went very well. Two of the three women that emailed ended up showing up and were very thankful to everybody for the goodies. From what I understand, they wouldnt have had a holiday if not for you guys. What is better than that?

Merry Christmas everyone. You guys touched a ton of people in the community. Absolutely outstanding.

[Franchise]

Thanks Kevin for all your hard work. We are doing the easy part. It's great to read all the stories and see the pictures as it really hits home all the good you are doing.

Thanks.:thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:

[fitter]

KEVIN ET AL

Merry Christmas Kevin, et al. I know personally, I look forward to donating to you guys. It warms my heart knowing that there is something I can do to help some unfortunate children, especially at this time of the year. It will make my morning coffee a little warmer, and bring a little bigger smile on my face tonite and tomorrow knowing you guys helped me help someone else. Thank you guys (and I am sure, gals). Your giving spirit is something special, and I for one, am proud to be a small part of it. Again, Merry Christmas to all of you, and to all on Predictem. :thumbs:

[Wilson]

A big shout out to Kevin and all the local's in the Dalles who make the toy drive such a great success.