Thanks to Them
It happens in a flash, an instant. Suddenly lives are changed for the better.
Millions of ordinary Americans, usually with little or no recognition or praise, offer extraordinary time to try to improve their world. But their path to good deeds often starts with halting, quirky steps: a debilitating illness and a prayer. A spanking in a youth center. The speech of a nun. A chance meeting at sea with dolphins.
No matter how they decide to do what they do, however, their efforts can by quietly moving: lonely seniors are no longer neglected; high-risk teen-agers get attention from a self-described former tough; crime victims receive some care and attention that the system never could give.
For all the labor, the hard work of all too many largely goes unsung. On a day of thanksgiving, it’s worth telling some of the tales of kindness.
Here are a few:
Harold and Barbara Colter
He is a retired building contractor from Eagle Rock; she is a homemaker. They have launched their own special gifts program for institutionalized mental patients. “We used to work in Madison, Wis., in the early 1950s in Mendota state receiving hospital. We saw so many people whose relatives had brought them in there and drove away and left them and never come back. . . . They were forgotten. My wife used to bake cookies and take them to them.
“Then, one day in 1976, we saw Dr. George Fischbeck advertising for toys for Porterville (mental hospital) on (television). Fischbeck said presents are needed. And that’s where we got the idea. We said, well, we’d help.
“So the wife and I went out and bought 500 gifts ourselves and hauled them away to Porterville. We buy all kinds of different things: Christmas stockings, stuffed animals, gold chains, coloring books--they love coloring books--crayons, balls, playing cards, puzzles, combs and jewelry.
“We’ve been doing this now for 13 years. We have now branched out to five different hospitals. We have given over 32,000 gifts. We are giving 8,500 gifts this year. This Christmas, we probably spent $7,500 to $8,000 out of our pockets. But this is our last year.
“It is too hard to get people organized. Boxing and wrapping is the only thing we’ve been able to get help for. It took us three weeks to wrap these 8,500. We had quite a job of getting the people in. We had to advertise in three different papers. We just couldn’t get help, just couldn’t get them.
“Last year we had three different television stations out here. A city councilman showed up. How many phone calls from volunteers do you think we got out of being on television? One phone call! At that time we decided there just isn’t enough people interested in this to keep it going.
“L.A. is just so big. People don’t even know their neighbors. I don’t know. They just are so busy. They don’t have time. We had our mind made up last year that this was the last year.”