Let's Tell A Secret A good one......

[KMARINO]

We all have skeletons in our closet...lets tell a nice heart warming story about something good you are proud of and done in your life.....

Me??..I was single and when hurricane Katrina wiped out Mississippi, I volunteered for the Red Cross and went there for almost a month, (Biloxi) I cooked and held out food, I seen things that looked like a 3rd word county, total devistation. Big Semis's wrapped around the top of trees, houses that had only the steps left to it. I stayed in a trailer with 5 guys and me , I became house mother and was blessed to have a trailer, as so many lived in tents. NO electic and NO power, waited on FEMA forever!! What a blessing I had in the time of my life to help out, totally humbled me..any one else??

 

[Texas Carol]

I will tell one on my dear Hubby, Stuart...he came in from midnight shift and had
stopped at quick stop store, the young clerk had just had her purse stolen from
behind her counter. It was a month before Christmas, she'd just cashed her check
and had money she'd been saving for her 2 young children's toys...all gone.

Stuart gave her all he had in his wallet (about $50) and had tears when he told me.
I'd been saving for a new coffee maker (about $50) and we drove back to give her
that money.

 

[linwhite]

We all have skeletons in our closet...lets tell a nice heart warming story about something good you are proud of and done in your life.....

Me??..I was single and when hurricane Katrina wiped out Mississippi, I volunteered for the Red Cross and went there for almost a month, (Biloxi) I cooked and held out food, I seen things that looked like a 3rd word county, total devastation. Big Semis's wrapped around the top of trees, houses that had only the steps left to it. I stayed in a trailer with 5 guys and me , I became house mother and was blessed to have a trailer, as so many lived in tents. NO electic and NO power, waited on FEMA forever!! What a blessing I had in the time of my life to help out, totally humbled me..any one else??

I too was a Katrina responder but in a different way. You probably met many of my teammates, the Mass Care / ESF 6 folks from the Florida SERT (State Emergency Response Team) Mike Whitehead was in charge and was coordinating sending information back to me in Tallahassee so we could get supplies and people to Mississippi. I ran the back end making sure what was needed was requested and sent to the Forward SERT Logistical Staging Area (where you were) as quickly as possible. You may have waited for FEMA but the Florida Search and Rescue teams was on the ground in Mississippi before the tropical storm force wind had died down and our other ESFs were on the road as soon as Search and Rescue said it was safe to start moving in. My team also slept on the ground, in tents and their cars until accommodation could be chosen and set up. Florida had over 6,000 State and local government employees on the ground in Mississippi alone for Katrina before all was said and done. I am very proud to have been a part of the Florida SERT for 12 years and responding to every event needing Mass Care assistance until I retired last year. I still plan on responding when called into the Emergency Operations Center in the future as a volunteer.

 

[Texas Carol]

@KMARINO & [MENTION=6176]linwhite[/MENTION]...I love finding out things like this about my fellow EBNers.

Just like one of my recent posts is titled-Bullies are wonderful and so are their Owners!

Thank y'all for your service, sacrifice & caring, heroic hearts for fellow Americans, GOD bless!

 

[Twice]

... I stayed in a trailer with 5 guys and me ,

I was expecting a whole other ending to this story

 

[mer55]

What a great thread!! [MENTION=900]KMARINO[/MENTION], @TexasCarol [MENTION=6176]linwhite[/MENTION]: Great stories! No wonder your bullies love you with those BIG hearts!!
Ok, here's mine: My wonderful Partner in life, Ed, and I were out to dinner one night. Ed lost his beloved wife of 30 years 4 months before I lost my beloved husband of 31 years. Ed and I were high school sweethearts in 1970. We were 16, and he was my first love. We went our seperate ways, but maintained loose contact over the years. Then we were both devistated by our losses. A mutual friend put us together, and here we are, living a great life together! Anyway, this one night we were out to dinner and a young family came in to the restaurant. Mom was all smiles (I would say it was a rare night off for her) and dad was looking a little haggard- most likely just coming from work- (the way he was dressed, it looks like he did some sort of manual labor)but all the while, he smiled as he watched his 3 young boys, ages 4-8, go back and forth to the buffet tables. Dad would remind them to only take what they could eat, and boy, did they eat! Mom sat and sipped a glass of wine like she was on vacation! This got Ed and I reminiscing of our children growing up( he has 5, I have 4- pretty much the same ages). We talked of how rarely we ate out, with such big families we had, but when we did, how special it was to us, despite the cost. It was always a cherished treat. Next thing I knew, Ed disappeared. When he came back to our table, he leaned and whispered to me that he picked up this family of 5's tab, but told the waiter not to tell them who did it. I watched with tears in my eyes as the mom and dad looked around the restaurant, bewildered that some stranger would pay their tab. They could not see us from where we sat, but we had a good view of the smiles on their faces. I hope someday they will remember this ,and maybe pay it forward!

 

[bluesteelapd]

I am just a big softy and have teared up over reading everyone's wonderful stories.
Thanks so much for starting this thread! I hope more will contribute and we can all smile at how big our hearts are when it comes to helping others.
My partner works for the state, DYFS (children services) and was on call this weekend. She spent her own money to buy food for a young mom who wasn't sure if her boyfriend would be able to come back to the hotel with food for her and their 1 year old after work. If he missed the bus he wouldn't be able to walk all the way home. My partner has a huge heart and that's one reason I love her so much.
I was a witness recently to a hit and run (involving two cars) and actually got the guys tag who ran. I'm still waiting for the court date but I told the lady who was hit that I'd be in court for her. If I hadn't gotten the tag she wouldn't have been able to sue this jerk.

 

[2BullyMama]

I was expecting a whole other ending to this story

 

[cowsmom]

oh my lets see. sometime last winter my bf steve and i were driving the hour to my house for me to go to work and him to pick up his car at my house. bout 15 minutes or so down the road it was snowing some and ice also. the more we drove the worse it was getting and started getting very slick fortunately i have a suv with 4 wheel drive. well we came upon this truck that was in the ditch on its side down a bank. it must have just happened as we were first on the scene. my bf went down the bank and held the drivers door up while on tip toes so he could get out. he was older so it took a bit and then he could not get his dog out. this took several minutes as the dog kept falling back in and all the while my bf was there on tip toes holding this door up in the air. i called 911 and when it looked like he was faltering i climbed down the ditch myself just as the man and his dog climbed down the truck to safety. several others had stopped by then and this nice nurse lady checked him and finally the fire dept got there. the other people took the man and his dog home and me and my bf drove very slowly back to the house witnessing several more wrecks and one more almost wreck before we got home.

 

[dalmatina38]

Well, I have a family that lives next door to me that I totally admire. The husband and wife are foster parents to 6 children and I am always amazed by the compassion and commitment these two individuals have for all their children. They have been foster parents for more than 20 years and have a total of 18 children they have adopted over the years. Anyway, I have watch them now for 6 years and three years ago one of their vehicles broke down and they were struggling to find the resources to fix the vehicle. Well, I had a 2003 Cavalier sitting in my driveway with 30,000 miles on it and in perfect condition, I really didn't drive anymore because I have trucks for me and my husband and an additional truck so we had four vehicles for two people. I went over and asked them to drive the Cavalier and they didn't want to at first but I explained they would be doing us a great favor if they did because the vehicle sits too much and would get ruined. They agreed to do it and drove have been driving the vehicle ever since. His wife came over to the house in March of this year and asked to buy the vehicle and I told her them being my neighbor was payment enough. It doesn't always happen that you get a wonderful neighbor and are able to watch and learn so much from such caring people. These folks don't have much money but what they do have as a family is worth more than all the money in the world. It gave me pleasure to know I could help them in their time of need.

 

[KMARINO]

I was expecting a whole other ending to this story

, Nope I knew they guys they were all cable guys, installing cable back in order. No funny buisness, all work and no play.....well we did have adult beverages at the end of the night. I did the majority of the cooking and all of the cleaning, can you imagine 5 guys in a 3 bedroom trialer? Nasty!! We were all friends, and still are. [MENTION=6176]linwhite[/MENTION] I probably did meet some of your friends, I met so many people and heard so many strories...All of these stories are just fabulous, I guess what got me started was the horrid tornado in OK, made me think of hurricane Katrina. I had so many pictures and was stupid when I left my X and never dowloaded the files. Now I just have memories.

 

[ChrisRN]

One year after my husband had lost his job (but I was still working), we went out to dinner before doing some bargain hunting for Christmas presents. We were moved by a mother with her three children at the table next to us. Something about her made us think of our daughter and the struggle she was having making ends meet. We decided that the best Christmas gift we could give that year was to pay for that family's dinner with the money we were going to use for presents that night. I will never ever forget the shock on our waitress's face when we told her we wanted it to be an anonymous gift. The restaurant owner came out and thanked us. It felt good to pay it forward!

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

Such wonderful stories from people I'm so proud to be here with.

We have a local lady, that is mentally disabled. She lives by herself in a special condo arrangement. Everyone in our city knows her. You see, she has a 17 year old cat that she pushes around everywhere in a stroller. People watch out for her. We all worry for the day she loses Cleo..her cat. She happens to go to my vet and they let her run up a small tab. I was there a few weeks ago and she was in paying $3 on her tab. Her poor kitty was very sick and she was wanting a blood test done that was $150.00. I sat there and just decided, I would pay for the test. When they took me into the exam room, I told the tech, I would like to make a donation on her bill. When, we were finished and went out to settle up, I paid for my vet bill and told the gal, I wanted to pay some towards Cleo, but anonymously. She was so thankful and when I said $200 she started to cry. She said this would pay off Cleo's bill and get her needed blood work. I left feeling like..I made a difference in someone's life today.

 

[Ftse 100]

I always knew EBN'rs were special people what a great thread, I really can't think what I have done as wonderful as the above stories I did help a boy once a friend of my sons I think they were around 14 at the time and there was no mother and the father was very abusive towards the two children and I did arrange help for the boy and his sibling to get.

 

[mavsfan4life]

What truly heart touching stories you have shared. Thank you for starting my day in such a positive way!