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Thanks
for Giving
JordanZone.com
- Jordan Shoes, Air Jordan Shoes, Michael Jordan Shoes
A
touch of holiday generosity brightens lives of those
in need
Medford,OR (Jordan Zone) A 21⁄2 -year-old named
Autumn received her first baby doll this week, part
of an outpouring of Christmas kindness that left the
adults who witnessed it nearly speechless.
"She’s been feeding her baby and clothing
her baby and giving her baby a bath," said Autumn’s
20-year-old mother, Melissa. "It’s like I
don’t have to sit there and feel bad because she
didn’t get anything. It’s like a blessing."
The Medford pair were among nearly 40 clients of the
Community Works’ Transitional Living and StreetWise
programs who received gifts, household goods and food
through a holiday drive organized by Medford Open Imaging.
Mail Tribune readers responding to the newspaper’s
eighth annual "Light One Candle" campaign
donated generously to the effort, flooding the local
business with supplies for low- income young people.
"It was amazing, I have to tell you," said
Ginette Keith, the marketing director who organized
the effort. "I have never had my heart torn in
150 pieces so many times before."
Keith was particularly touched by Autumn, whose mother
was living in a car before she enrolled in the program
that helps homeless youth find shelter. Melissa, who
won’t reveal her last name because she fears recognition,
often parked her car in front of a friend or relative’s
home and let the baby sleep inside.
"There usually wasn’t a bed for me and her,
too," Melissa said.
For Melissa, supplies like toilet paper, shampoo and
laundry detergent were as much a blessing as Autumn’s
doll.
"The mothers were just crying, they were so overwhelmed,"
Keith said. "They left with a ton of gifts and
a ton of food."
Across Jackson County, the story was the same as holiday
donors stepped forward to meet community needs.
A Shady Cove woman raising her five grandchildren won’t
have to pay for propane for a year after Mail Tribune
readers donated more than $1,500 for fuel costs. The
woman also received offers of five cars to replace her
broken pickup truck, said Molly Salazar, a caseworker
with the Rogue Family Center in White City.
"It’s been nonstop," Salazar said. "I
came in and there were 35 messages on my phone. I’m
seeing a lot of seniors and grandparents who are raising
their grandchildren, too, and just want to help."
Empathy sparked a wave of generosity for a 7-year-old
Medford girl and her mom escaping domestic violence.
Donors sent more than 60 board games, plus cash and
other gifts to the Kids Health Connection, said director
Karen Holt. Some of the gifts came from people who’d
survived domestic violence themselves.
"They said, ‘That could have been me,’
" Holt said.
After the girl and her mom selected what they wanted,
extra games and gifts were set aside for other vulnerable
children.
Readers swamped Jackson County Juvenile Services offices
with clothing, bedding, toothbrushes, money and more
for a 16-year-old boy and his family.
One donor was a former client of the agency who’d
turned his own life around, said Carl Erickson, deputy
director of the division.
"He’s a businessman now and he went out and
bought stuff," Erickson said. "It was amazing."
At Kids Unlimited of Medford, a 13-year-old boy is walking
around in a new pair of Nike Air Jordan sneakers, size
91⁄2 , said director Tom Cole.
In addition, Mail Tribune readers donated enough fancy
basketball shoes to outfit most of the rest of the boy’s
team.
There were other highlights as well:
A 50-year-old Medford woman who was badly hurt in a
car accident will receive a free cell phone and a year’s
free use, thanks to U.S. Cellular.
An 18-year-old girl in foster care will have her choice
of two used laptop computers to help her finish high
school.
In Ashland, an effort to offer grocery certificates
to migrant farmworkers raised enough to supply all 62
families with food for the holidays. In addition, the
Hermanos Project received about $1,700 to supply a second
round of food certificates in the lean weeks of February,
said Susan Harris, a volunteer.
About the only exception to the tide of goodwill was
the response to the WinterSpring Center for Living with
Loss and Grief in Medford.
Cash donations totaling about $50 and packets of hot
cocoa mix will be appreciated, said Angel DeShane, office
manager.
But that limited response illustrates how hard it is
to generate support for an agency that helps people
cope with grief. It’s ironic, she said, because
unresolved grief often drives problems such as substance
abuse and domestic violence.
"Maybe people don’t want to think about grief,"
especially at Christmas, DeShane said.
More common, however, was the kind of generosity extended
to a family coping with sex abuse.
A huge ham basket from Gary West meats, coupons to the
movies and McDonald’s and gifts for six children
quickly filled the offices of the Medford agency, said
Jackie Ralph, volunteer coordinator for the Children’s
Advocacy Center of Medford.
The kindness itself was a kind of healing, not only
for the family, but for those who work with them as
well, Ralph said.
"With the type of people we see every day, well,
this reinstates faith in our community," she said.
By Jonel Aleccia
Mail Tribune
December 25, 2004
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