Many hands, light work

The 8th Annual “Cover with Kindness Blanket Drive” has now concluded, in the nick of time, with hundreds of people being served. Two full days of giving at St. Saviors Church Hall on December 11th and 12th left many people truly feeling like someone cares and that they matter.

With gifts of blankets, winter coats, gloves, socks, in short anything that could keep them warm this winter. But perhaps the greatest gift you gave was that of love, showing your compassion in the form of a gift, giving to those in need and to that end, I say Thank You.

Thank you also to: The very generous citizens of Penticton that gave something to help someone, the many volunteers that made the campaign a success and enabled us touching the lives of so many. The Junior Chamber of Commerce who supplied in excess of 10 volunteers, the entire Penticton Vees hockey team, the Bank of Montreal and Bank of Nova Scotia, BP Wood Products, Paul Bouchard and his employees - Bob Cade, Lisa Grey-Draper, and Dennis Ebner, Pat Simons and her merry volunteers, who also operate the Free Store throughout the year. All of our media friends which helped spread the word to those in need, Steve Thompson and Debra Formo for donating their moving vans to transport the gifts to the church hall, thanks to Affordable Storage (Lucas & Sharon) for storing the remaining cold weather items free of charge, St. Saviors Church for allowing us to set up all of our donations for the “Give away” days and many many thanks to my assistant Kim, who greeted each and every person, who made a donation, always with a smile and always saying Thank you and telling that person, their gift will make a difference in someone’s life.

Each day when I say my prayers, I give Thanks: for a warm and dry place to sleep, always having enough to eat, fresh water to drink, and each day when I awake and before going to sleep, I feel safe and secure and thank you for such blessings that many people do not have.

As I loaded the last blanket into the storage unit and was getting ready to leave, I started to hum the melody of a familiar song that goes like this: “What the world needs now is love, sweet love, It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of, what the world needs now is love sweet love, no not just for some but for everyone.” A wise man said: “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill

Gregory J. Litwin