Christmas is Coming

Christmas is a wonderful time at Good Shepherd’s Fold.  We have had some generous donations to provide gifts for the kids in the past.  This year a really amazing story is coming together.

It starts at St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.  St. Jude’s is a hospital for kids with terminal illnesses.  Due to their high profile (founded by entertainer Danny Thomas and it’s one of the best such hospitals in the world), there are many donations, including hundreds of gifts for the kids at the hospital.

Here is the twist… Due to the terminal illnesses of the kids, low/zero immunity, etc., the hospital cannot give such toys to the kids, because they have to maintain a completely sterile atmosphere.  So St. Jude has a huge warehouse of donated toys, which it ironically cannot use.  Not to waste these things, they have a program to allow orphanages and other similar groups to go “shopping” in their warehouse to get gifts for other children elsewhere in the country and world – absolutely free!

Our friends, Sam and Suzie Davis, in coordination with the Orphanos Foundation, made arrangements to get gifts for all 92 kids at GSF – donated from St. Jude Hospital’s toy warehouse.  The Davis’s went to the warehouse on Wednesday to go Christmas shopping for GSF!  Here is what they had to say:

Wow!  It was an unbelievable morning at the St. Jude warehouse.  Sam and I and Grace Fragosa from Orphanos arrived at 8:30am.  We were welcomed by Velma Carnathan , Grace's friend, who is in charge of the donations warehouse.  A few of the toys were shelved, but the over-whelming majority were in boxes.  Armed with box-cutters and our lists, we dove in.  Three hours later, we were packing up boxes in the Tahoe.  We felt like we had something for everyone, but our heads were spinning.  There was not one more inch of cargo space in the Tahoe, so we needed to be done.  We threatened to tie Grace on the roof but it wasn't necessary.  

This is an unfolding story.  Stayed tuned for updates!