The Gift of Ourselves

“Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart.” 
― Henry Clay

Angel Tree distribution took place the third week of December at the Reading Housing Authority.  Every year in October, low-income residents are invited to voluntarily sign up to receive a gift from an anonymous donor, i.e. an angel.  In December, the gifts magically arrive wrapped and labeled for its intended recipient.  Little did I know the effort required to deliver these gifts.

https://www.faithbetonville.com

My new co-workers and I manually spent one day sorting, transporting and delivering more than 1,000 gifts to eight different housing sites.  It is important for me to share that my coworkers, although paid to do their jobs as nurses and social workers, cheerfully and with great enthusiasm bent their knees, pushed carts, lifted boxes and worked up quite a sweat that day.  It was delightful to partake of their kind, hard-working spirits as we all looked forward to the delivery date.

Over the course of the next two days, we then distributed said gifts.  My heart was humbled by the whispers and shouts of gratitude from men and women of little means.  The anonymous donors were so generous.  It occurred to me on those delivery dates that some of the residents will only receive this one gift.

My heart will certainly hold in fond memory the grandmother who unexpectedly received a gift of pink slippers with matching pink bottles of perfumes.  She screamed in delight when the unwrapped package was handed to her.  Her eyes lit up with joy and her expressions of thankfulness in Spanish made all that hard work worth it.  Yes, a few people grumbled on distribution day; but, they didn’t matter at that moment.  All that mattered from the entire experience, for me, was this lovely abuela’s (Spanish for grandmother) sincere smile of appreciation.

Residents also randomly handed out gifts to my co-workers too.  I was not left out as I received a handful of gifts too. 

The whole experience made me reminisce about the kind of “wellness” one stores in their heart in order to “give” to another.  Well wishes for another to have happiness, hope, peace and love from their fellow human travelers – in spite of race, language or economics.  If wellness is defined a balance in mind, body and soul, then these residents and my coworkers were witnesses of wellness.

I am so grateful to see the signs of wellness in poverty.  We say that money doesn’t equal riches.  But the demonstration of that saying is when someone takes a little of what they have, whether tangible or intangible, and gladly, willingly shares it with someone else causing a smile, a rainbow of peace and a hope shot of love – unexpectedly.

Don’t forget to share yourself this holiday season.  Touch someone else’s life with the beauty of your wellness.