43535 Natchez St DeLand, FL 32720
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On a cold morning in December, 2017, I walked into McGinnis Elementary and announced that I was donating 30 sweatshirts. The assistant started crying. "I can't believe this" she said, "we had a meeting an hour ago and prayed that one of our business partners would show up with jackets and here you are." She immediately got the principal and told her why I was there and the principal also had tears in her eyes. They were so thankful for the sweatshirts.
I dropped off some sweatshirts at Edgewater Public and the guidance counselor said she had just seen one of their 5th graders walking to school with a blanket wrapped around her because she didn't own a jacket. That girl went home with a bright orange sweatshirt and I'm told she wore it to school every day for the rest of the year.
Two first graders took their sweatshirts home and their mother called the teacher immediately to thank her. The family had moved suddenly and weren't able to bring anything with them and the girls didn't have any jackets. They were so thankful.
At Holly Hill School, a teacher said to a little boy, "Is that a new sweatshirt?" He whispered back, " A lady at the office gave it to me and it was FREE!"
We were asked if we could provide 2 sweatshirts each to a family of 3 children. Their mother had died unexpectedly and Grandpa was raising them and they were in dire need, of course we said yes.
A little girl got a hot pink sweatshirt. She was so happy and was strutting around. The principal told her mother about us donating sweatshirts and her mother went right out and bought hot pink matching beanie cap and gloves. Now that little girl is really strutting. I loved the fact our good deed was paid forward.
My favorite story of all is this. My first year donating, I went to Mainland High School and dropped off sweatshirts. The guidance counselor decided to call the kids in one at a time to give them a sweatshirt. One of the girls said, "Is this really mine? I don't have to give it back to you tomorrow?" "Yes, it's really yours and yes you get to keep it." The girl responded by saying, "I've never owned a new piece of clothing in my life." When the girl left, the guidance counselor had tears in her eyes. As she told me later, I never realized how bad it was for some of our students