If you want to get out of debt, PLEASE, don't sign up with any companies offering their help.
This is my story and it was horrible! Steer clear of easy and quick fixes.
Tear up the credit cards - burn 'em - whatever.
Hope this will help someone NOT do what I and many others did!
Friday, September 30, 2005
Saturday, September 17, 2005
ONE DAY WITH MR. WILLIE
I absolutely believe in my heart of hearts this has got to be one of the most important days of my life - and that of my son.
Today I did what I wish everyone could do and that is walk in the shoes of one of our brothers and try to make a difference.
I have had the pleasure of meeting a sweet and wonderful elderly gentleman by the name of Willie Reeves, who made his way out of the devastation of hurricaine Katrina - took a flight in helicopter and his first plane ride all in the same day. I met this man while serving as a volunteer in Phoenix, AZ'S Veteran Coliseum and I don't think my life will ever be the same as a result of this.
MR. WILLIE just happened to be one of those fortunate people that made his way out of Katrina's madness - without his wife - she is in Louisiana in a nursing home - he is in a Scottsdale AZ nursing home and doing well.
Today my son and I went to the nursing home and picked him up and just took him out for the day. We did very simple things like going to the barber shop and getting Mr. Willie a haircut, went to Burger King and had lunch, went to another older gentleman's house that lives in Phoenix just so Mr. Willie would be able to say he met some people here that were just like him. He got a big kick out of my son and he told stories of days long ago in New Orleans and how he used drive a truck and how his friends made moonshine and corn mash and what it was like growing up in the south. He talked about his parents and the type of people they were and how he and his brothers and sister grew up on a farm and how happy his life had pretty much been.
He expressed his gratitude to me for being a "Great Lady" he said and how happy he was that he had met me. HOW HAPPY HE WAS HE MET ME???? Man, all the while I was thinking how blessed I am for having met HIM!! He will never know the joy I got in taking him to the barbershop for a long overdue haircut and the guys in the shop response to him on being a survivor! One guy paid for his haircut, but I was ready and willing to pay for it myself.
We went to Walmart - Mr. Willie, my son Sam and I - what a kick I got out of watching him ride through the aisles of the store in the carts they have for people who can't walk well or are in need of help. He got the hang of the driving right away and said,"Hey, I used to be a truck driver don't forget!" - What a treat it was just watching him have some sort of normalcy to his 75 year old life. He is quite a talker and has the personality of someone who can enjoy a laugh and make you laugh all at the same time, and did I laugh today!!
When we dropped him off at the nursing care facility he is currently staying in, I almost hated to leave him. The place is nice enough and clean as a whistle, but I felt like I was leaving behind an old friend. We showed him how to use the room phone - "kinda newfangled" he said, but Sam helped him out on how to use it. I let him use my cell phone to call his wife in LA and his sister in Mississippi, and he just beamed while he told his family of his latest adventures with his "new found grandchildren" - ME AND MY SON!!
I have been blessed this day more than I can say. It felt good to me to be of service to someone who really needed it and it blessed me to see how my son got into the spirit as well. We often forget our old ones in this country and what they have earned in hard work and spirit should not be taken advantage of or forgotten.
MY SWEET MR. WILLIE - I'll call him tomorrow and check on him.
I WILL NEVER STOP TRYING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!!!!!
Today I did what I wish everyone could do and that is walk in the shoes of one of our brothers and try to make a difference.
I have had the pleasure of meeting a sweet and wonderful elderly gentleman by the name of Willie Reeves, who made his way out of the devastation of hurricaine Katrina - took a flight in helicopter and his first plane ride all in the same day. I met this man while serving as a volunteer in Phoenix, AZ'S Veteran Coliseum and I don't think my life will ever be the same as a result of this.
MR. WILLIE just happened to be one of those fortunate people that made his way out of Katrina's madness - without his wife - she is in Louisiana in a nursing home - he is in a Scottsdale AZ nursing home and doing well.
Today my son and I went to the nursing home and picked him up and just took him out for the day. We did very simple things like going to the barber shop and getting Mr. Willie a haircut, went to Burger King and had lunch, went to another older gentleman's house that lives in Phoenix just so Mr. Willie would be able to say he met some people here that were just like him. He got a big kick out of my son and he told stories of days long ago in New Orleans and how he used drive a truck and how his friends made moonshine and corn mash and what it was like growing up in the south. He talked about his parents and the type of people they were and how he and his brothers and sister grew up on a farm and how happy his life had pretty much been.
He expressed his gratitude to me for being a "Great Lady" he said and how happy he was that he had met me. HOW HAPPY HE WAS HE MET ME???? Man, all the while I was thinking how blessed I am for having met HIM!! He will never know the joy I got in taking him to the barbershop for a long overdue haircut and the guys in the shop response to him on being a survivor! One guy paid for his haircut, but I was ready and willing to pay for it myself.
We went to Walmart - Mr. Willie, my son Sam and I - what a kick I got out of watching him ride through the aisles of the store in the carts they have for people who can't walk well or are in need of help. He got the hang of the driving right away and said,"Hey, I used to be a truck driver don't forget!" - What a treat it was just watching him have some sort of normalcy to his 75 year old life. He is quite a talker and has the personality of someone who can enjoy a laugh and make you laugh all at the same time, and did I laugh today!!
When we dropped him off at the nursing care facility he is currently staying in, I almost hated to leave him. The place is nice enough and clean as a whistle, but I felt like I was leaving behind an old friend. We showed him how to use the room phone - "kinda newfangled" he said, but Sam helped him out on how to use it. I let him use my cell phone to call his wife in LA and his sister in Mississippi, and he just beamed while he told his family of his latest adventures with his "new found grandchildren" - ME AND MY SON!!
I have been blessed this day more than I can say. It felt good to me to be of service to someone who really needed it and it blessed me to see how my son got into the spirit as well. We often forget our old ones in this country and what they have earned in hard work and spirit should not be taken advantage of or forgotten.
MY SWEET MR. WILLIE - I'll call him tomorrow and check on him.
I WILL NEVER STOP TRYING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!!!!!
Sunday, September 04, 2005
WHAT HAS HAPPENDED TO OUR COUNTRY??
I have been appalled at the blatant racisim that has been diplayed on our TV's over this past week as the most unfortunate people in NEW ORLEANS, LA have endured the most gut wrenching and diplorable conditions in the "Safety Dome" they had to call home for 5 days! I am horrified and incensed at what I watched day in and day out - human beings, AMERICANS, AFRICAN AMERCIANS - left without food or water after the rains came and went. What kind of society are we living in when men, women, children, elderly - left to die without food and water?
Black and white people shared the Dome quarters for those 5 days - primarily Black people - VERY POOR BLACK PEOPLE! I feel in my heart(Lord help me) that the powers that be really didn't give a damn if they lived or died. These people were told they would be safe from the winds and the rain of the hurricane, yet when the winds died down and the rain went away - they were apparently forgotten about. I mean really, how do you tell people to go somewhere for safety and forget to bring in the supplies to sustain their safety? After all, didn't the people who directed those less fortunate to the Dome for safe keeping - didn't they eat and drink after the waters passed by?
I don't know if I have ever seen anything like this in my lifetime - I mean right there in my face - like BAM!! My heart and my head had such a hard time processing all I was taking in - Lord, I couldn't sleep - I even felt guilty buying groceries the other day - PEOPLE ARE HUNGRY OUT THERE AND MY BELLY IS FULL - TOO FULL! I fussed at my son for leaving the shower running unneccesarily - People in Louisiana and Mississippi didn't have ANY water to drink or to clean themselves with and he was just letting the water run.
I think sometimes God allows us to see things that are painful and ugly to look at just so we will thank Him for all the blessings HE has given us and too have mercy and empathy on those less fortunate than ourselves. I think GOD is nature and when HE turns the wrath of Himself on us and our surroundings, we should truly take a look at what HE is trying to tell us. Just like HE brings the storms and winds and rain, the same GOD brings the sun to dry it all up and brings people together to work together and assist the less fortunate in starting over.
I want so much to make a difference in the lives of people who need an example of love, kindness and whatever would let them see My Saviour working in my life. I would only hope that HIS light would shine through in something I did.
I'LL NEVER STOP TRYING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
Black and white people shared the Dome quarters for those 5 days - primarily Black people - VERY POOR BLACK PEOPLE! I feel in my heart(Lord help me) that the powers that be really didn't give a damn if they lived or died. These people were told they would be safe from the winds and the rain of the hurricane, yet when the winds died down and the rain went away - they were apparently forgotten about. I mean really, how do you tell people to go somewhere for safety and forget to bring in the supplies to sustain their safety? After all, didn't the people who directed those less fortunate to the Dome for safe keeping - didn't they eat and drink after the waters passed by?
I don't know if I have ever seen anything like this in my lifetime - I mean right there in my face - like BAM!! My heart and my head had such a hard time processing all I was taking in - Lord, I couldn't sleep - I even felt guilty buying groceries the other day - PEOPLE ARE HUNGRY OUT THERE AND MY BELLY IS FULL - TOO FULL! I fussed at my son for leaving the shower running unneccesarily - People in Louisiana and Mississippi didn't have ANY water to drink or to clean themselves with and he was just letting the water run.
I think sometimes God allows us to see things that are painful and ugly to look at just so we will thank Him for all the blessings HE has given us and too have mercy and empathy on those less fortunate than ourselves. I think GOD is nature and when HE turns the wrath of Himself on us and our surroundings, we should truly take a look at what HE is trying to tell us. Just like HE brings the storms and winds and rain, the same GOD brings the sun to dry it all up and brings people together to work together and assist the less fortunate in starting over.
I want so much to make a difference in the lives of people who need an example of love, kindness and whatever would let them see My Saviour working in my life. I would only hope that HIS light would shine through in something I did.
I'LL NEVER STOP TRYING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
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