|
|
A Quest For CrayonsFeb 26 '04 (Updated Jun 02 '05) Write an essay on this topic.
Popular Products in Books
The Bottom Line Epinions members always support one another... Please look into your heart and find a way to support me in this quest.
There is a man on Long Island who is very dear to me. He's an older gentleman, grandfather to a wonderful set of twins. Seven years ago, one of the twins was born with a sickness. Grand-Pa made a deal with "The Big Guy Upstairs" that if the twin should survive the life-saving surgery, he would bring joy to as many sick children as he could. Needless to say, the twin pulled through. In Grand-Pa's eyes, God filled his side of his bargain. Now it was Grand-Pa's turn to follow through. Grand-Pa is a very creative man. He makes beautiful figurines from wood in his basement workshop. He then gives them to his wonderful wife, Grand-Ma, to paint. Grand-Ma sits at her desk in the room outside of Grand-Pa's workshop and paints them as Grand-Pa relentlessly makes more. When the figurines are finished, Grand-Pa visits hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses across Long Island and delivers these gifts to the children there. Grand-Pa and Grand-Ma bring a little bit of sunshine to the lives of these hospital-ridden children. Yes, Grand-Pa held up his end of the bargain with God. Soon, Grand-Pa realized that the children can only have so much fun with a wooden figurine. He came up with an idea to involve children more and leave them with something that will occupy hours of their dull days inside of the hospital: Coloring Books. Grand-Ma and Grand-Pa created pictures for the children to color and activities for the children to complete inside of these coloring books. The books are purple and orange, and have a message on the first page that reads: I hope it will make your Hospital stay a little bit easier because You Are A Special Person. ~Grand-Pa On the second page of the coloring book is a page with angels and moons that reads: What Makes You A Special Person... On the Day You Were Born The Moon Sang Lullabiesl The Stars Danced in the Sky and all the Angels Smiled What follows is 68 pages of activities and drawings to color. On the final page, there is a message from Grand-Pa: The Echo of A Child's Laughter is My Reward All of the books are bound with pages that can easily tear out for the child to share or give to a loved one. I don't know if Grand-Pa and Grand-Ma laid out their own money to make these books. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me. These people are such good people, it brings tears to my eyes and makes my heart swell when I think about everything they do to make a sick child happy. Some restaurants in the area were going to donate crayons for Grand-Pa to hand out with the coloring books. Guess what-- They reneged. All of them. He was supposed to get 500 crayons from some restaurants that shall remain nameless (for I am certain they don't want to be associated with doing something so incredibly greedy), but now has none. It was just going to be the 4-pack of crayons that are handed out for children to use at restaurants. How expensive can they be? Plus, it's a tax write-off because it's a donation. This is where we come in. I haven't told Grand-Pa how, but I promised to get him some crayons. Since my mother is an art director for a school district, she constantly receives samples. I told her about Grand-Pa last night, and she gave me 21 8-pack boxes of crayons that she received as samples. She told me that she would talk with all of the other art teachers about Grand-Pa and see if she could get any more for this cause. Mom also told me that I should write an article about them for Long Island Magazine or one of the local newspapers. I don't want to invade Grand-Pa's privacy, but this is a story that just needed to be told. So, I thought of a way to reach out to a community of my own: Epinions. You can help Grand-Pa on his quest to bring happiness to sick children. No, I'm not asking for money. I'm asking for crayons. They sell them in packs of 4 at the dollar store, just $1 for 5 packs! If every member on Epinions even sent me one pack of crayons, Grand-Pa would have over 1,000 packs. He would be able to deliver coloring books and crayons to that many children. And, believe me, there really are that many children in children's wards and Ronald McDonald Houses. So, I ask you, my dear reader, please look into your heart and find the time to donate some crayons to Grand-Pa's cause. These children deserve some happiness in their lives, which are often too short in the first place. Okay, this article has been up for less than 2 hours, and I have responded to over 20 emails. I asked my mom if it would be okay to post our mailing address in this review, and she gave me a resounding "ABSOLUTELY!!!" So, if you'd like to donate some crayons, please email me at CandiceCain@verizon.net and I will give you the mailing information. I would really appreciate if you could post here, too. Once I receive your donation, I'll include you either in this article or on my profile page. THANK YOU!! SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING EPINIONS MEMBERS FOR THEIR SELFLESS, GENEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS: AinsleyJo Artemis8 ArtMom BadKittyM Craig189 DrDevience LogiMom Wifeofvolsfan Cripfemme The world is a better place because of you!  |
| Read all comments (31)|Write your own comment |
- Top 500
