After being put in contact with a senior living facility whose residents needed help with accumulating household, health, and hygiene items as well as food, Human Defense Initiative launched a registry to meet the needs of all 40 residents.
All of the items finally arrived and we are so happy to inform you all that because of the generous support of our donors we were not only able to assemble 40 cubes full of items for each resident but we were also able to fill their community pantry! Thank you to all who donated! We could not do what we do without you.
Yesterday, June 8, 2020, we were able to deliver the donations and the residents were ABSOLUTELY OVER THE MOON.
It required three full car loads to deliver everything to them in the Texas heat but it was such an AMAZING experience. When we arrived with the first load, three of the women were outside hanging out and immediately inquired about the Human Defense Initiative.
“We each get a whole tote? One of those?” one lady asked incredulously. “Yes, you do! There’s one for each and every one of you!” we explained.
We received more “thank you”s and “God bless you”s than we can count and we are so thankful we got the opportunity to tell several residents more about our organization and just how amazing all of our donors are.
The news that we were there and had gifts spread quickly and the cubes disappeared almost as quickly as we set them in the community lounge room. By the time we arrived with the second batch, the first batch was already gone!
During our third trip, one of the residents insisted she help us. She pushed one of the carts we were loading with boxes. She then talked with us, eager to learn more about “who we were with.”
She was so touched by the donations. “We’ve had things donated but never like this- never like this,” she explained, her eyes tearing up.
She talked about how they are often overlooked and “thrown away” by society and we explained how we wanted to give back because every life matters and we understand how hard they have worked their entire lives – that they are our teachers and mentors. In her case, she was a nurse for 25 years for the elderly. She was so incredibly moved by everything our donors had contributed and so very grateful, everyone was.
Additionally, we were blessed with the opportunity to talk with another ministry who was there holding a Bible study with the residents and exchange business cards with the coordinator.
We want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who contributed to this fundraiser! It was such a blessing that thanks to our donors, HDI was able to deliver not only these gifts for each resident but also help fill their community pantry!
It was beyond an honor to meet the residents and we could tell these necessities will not only be super helpful to them but they will cherish them. Thank you all for making this possible! Because of YOU, these seniors have much-needed items which they had been struggling to afford!
Below are some photos from our deliveries. Do not worry – the cubes were not permanently bent like in the first photo. They were flexible and we fluffed them back out as soon as we got them inside. The third photo is a picture of the second delivery. It is, unfortunately, not representative of all of the cubes. Since the residents were so excited, the first batch disappeared before we could get a photo. We also included a little note as seen in the fourth photo in every cube.
