Helping Refugees

I want to take an opportunity to brag about my son.

Yesterday night, the young women in our congregation had a donation drive for refugees in Utah. They were asking for things like coats, school supplies, diapers, wipes, and birthday presents for children.

We had been planning on donating, but when they knocked on our door at 7:30, we realized that we hadn't gotten the things ready. We quickly answered the door and asked them if they could come back in 1/2 an hour after we'd collected the items.

The next few minutes were spent running around the house and collecting things for the list that we could spare. We found a few things for each part, but when we came to the last item, the birthday presents for children, we hesitated.

The toys weren't ours, they were Kevin's. So, we decided to talk to him about it. We brought him in his bedroom and told him that there were some people who had lost everything and we were trying to collect things to give them. We told him that there were children that didn't have any toys, and we asked him to consider giving them some of his toys.

A very serious expression came over Kevin's face, and he solemnly nodded his head. Then, he went over to his toy box, and began to select toys to give the other children. He completely understood what we were asking him to do. He knew that he would never see his toys again, and he accepted that. What really impressed me, was which toys he selected.

He didn't pick toys he never played with. Instead he offered some of his favorites. He gave up one of his treasured dinosaur toys (though he couldn't quite bring him to give up one of his raptors, though he did think about it), and some of his cars. He offered one of his "kingdoms," which are little featureless, wooden people from his train track. We told him that was very sweet, but that the children might not appreciate that particular toy. He also tried to give a singing t-rex, which he loves, but both of its arms were missing, so we didn't want to send a broken toy.

I don't know that I've ever been more proud of my son. He was so selfless, and he was very serious about wanting to help those children. He gave up somethings that he loved, and I was really proud of him.

We compiled our box just as the girls returned. They took our box and drove away. Suddenly I remembered we had some phonics books. It took me a few minutes to find them, but when I asked Kevin if he wanted to give them up, he said no. Instead, he picked another favorite book, a pop-up book that made animal sounds, and said he wanted to give that instead. Again, I swelled with love for my son. Grig decided he wanted to give the kite that he had gotten for Christmas. Now I know where Kevin gets it from.

Grig quickly put on his shoes and tried to chase them down, but he couldn't find them.

We ended up keeping those last two items, but I still was really grateful that I have such a giving and loving family. I am also grateful for the opportunity we had to help our some people in need. We've been really wanting to help the refugees, and it was nice to know that we could contribute.

I'm so proud of my boy and my husband.