The Last House

I was about 27 years old when I decided that I would be the Minden Civitan’s Toys for Tots chairman. Judy Talley and I were the first females to join the all male group back then. The Toys for Tots campaign at that time accepted used toys that the volunteers would refurbish for poor children. I had decided that was not acceptable. I would make the challenge for the community to step up and donate NEW toys and/or money so we could purchase new toys.

I had also learned that the Minden City Police played Santa and all the deliveries to the needy children of Minden were delivered in cop cars by city cops. I thought that was unacceptable, too. A cop didn’t need to deliver toys to these kids. How scary, I thought. And not to take away from the generosity of our city cops who were more than willing to do this wonderful deed….I just felt that a real person needed to do it. Well, need-less-to-say, I bite off more than I could chew.

I was successful in raising more money that year than any previous year. And I had decided that I would selfishly deliver these gifts to the needy. We had our fund drive. The toys were purchased. The girl gifts were wrapped in one kind of Christmas paper and the boys were wrapped in another. The names were submitted and our committee met to divide up the toys and bag them up in black garbage bags for delivery. The Minden city cops were ready to pick them up and make their deliveries when I informed them that I would be doing it. They were surprised but offered to help if I got in a pinch.

I was young, naïve and ambitious. I thought I could do this myself. I set out that day and piled what I could in my car for the first round of deliveries. I had a little trouble locating the houses from the address list. I was not familiar at all with the black section of town. I did have enough sense to locate a city map and mark off my journey. But it didn’t take me long to see what a challenge this was going to be.

I made my way to the homes in the poor district of town. I was fearless. It was late at night and this was Christmas. I knocked on door after door and handed the grateful recipient their black bag of goodies. Everyone was so gracious and so grateful.

But I had more gifts to deliver this year than any previous year. On my second load, it was getting quite dark and I was worried that I might not have enough time to make all the deliveries. I was at an intersection when a friend of mine waved me down. It was Thelda Harris and her husband. I had worked with Thelda through the Community Action Center. She was a well known professional in the black community and she and I had become good friends. She obviously wondered what I was doing ‘in that side of town’ and asked what I was up to. I explained that I was delivering toys to the needy. She and her husband immediately offered to help me. By this time, I was worried about getting everything delivered. I took her up on her offer.

Thelda and her husband took half of the stash I had in my car and we went over my list of recipients and carefully divided up everything according to areas. She and her husband took off to make their deliveries and I set out to finish the ones on my list.

I was wrapping up my deliveries and every door that I knocked on I was met by a very appreciative mother or grandmother who thanked me and blessed me. And in each case, the recipient was far more in need than I had perceived.

I had one more name on my list. It was in an area of town that I was unfamiliar with. I pulled over and turned on my overhead light and looked for the road on my map. Even today, I couldn’t tell you where it was but it was out there and at the end of a long dirt road.

It was after midnight and I was wondering if I could get away with not delivering this last one. Would they really know? Would they really care? My guilt got the best of me and I set out to find this last house on my list.

I finally made it to the last house. It was nearly 1 AM. I had wondered if they would even still be up at this late hour. I thought that if all the lights were out, I would just place the bag on the front step and hope that they would find it in the morning.

I drove up to the house, or trailer, I should say. The lights were still on. I was hoping that the lights would be off so I could just set the bag down and go home….finally. I was so tired and I just wanted to go home. This job was more than I had bargained for.

I walked up to the door and knocked. A young woman came to the door and was surprised to see me, of course. I immediately told her who I was so she would not be alarmed. “Hello, my name is Chris. I am the Civitan's Toys for Tots Chairman and I’m here to make a delivery.” She did something I wasn’t ready for. She invited me in. I had not entered a single home. I just made my deliveries and said Merry Christmas and I was on my way. “Oh no, thank you." "Please, please come in,” she insisted.

I stepped up into the trailer and in front of me stood a lighted Christmas tree. I made my way in and she offered me a chair. I sat down and immediately said, “I can’t stay. It’s late and I’m sure you want to go to bed and I have to go to work in the morning.” She was so gracious and it was as though she hadn’t heard a single thing I said. She immediately went into thanking me while her eyes were filling up with tears. “I can’t thank you enough for coming,” she said. “We lost our home in a fire. We lost everything." She went on to explain to me why she was up at this hour. She explained that she was a single Mom and she had submitted her son’s name for consideration for the Toys for Tots long after the deadline. As it got later, she realized that maybe she was too late. And she was still up because she was trying to figure out what she was going to tell her little boy when he woke up in the morning to see that they had no presents under the tree.

While she was telling me about her unfortunate circumstances, I happened to glance over at the little Christmas tree in the corner. There were no presents. She kept thanking me and calling me her Christmas angel.

I’ll be honest. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. I was so over taken by my emotions that all I could think about was getting home so I could cry. I gave the lady a hug and wished her a Merry Christmas. I finally made it home. I was exhausted. I cried myself to sleep.

I haven’t shared this story with anyone until today mainly because I didn’t want it to come off boastful. But I realized while writing these blogs how much our early decisions in life dictate what paths we choose. We all have so many things to be thankful for and it’s easy to get wrapped up in our own little world and forget that there is another one out there. The number of poor people is growing in our country and in our own community. Whatever their circumstances are, I don’t think it is for us to judge. But I do think that we should not forget them!

I am still friends with Thelda Harris and I love her dearly. Merry Christmas Mr. and Mrs. Harris!

The Minden Civitans still sponsor the annual Toys for Tots and deserve a great deal of thanks for all they do for this community.