Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Live United by Erin Haag

Last week, I wrote about stories that are written on our heart. I tell stories because they reach out and grab people, and they’re compelled to take action. In the past, it’s been a donor that provided size 15 shoes for a local teenager, in memory of her father who was size 15. It’s been the donor who brought in a coat for the mother who realized she was so focused on getting her children coats she hadn’t even thought about herself yet.

We don’t have fancy pictures to display and tell our story. All we have are the words. For respect out of people’s privacy, we often can’t convey the depth of emotion or the additional barriers that are being faced that goes into that story. We have a shared language in our office built around these stories. When we celebrate, we laugh, clap our hands and say, “It’s beautiful!” as a tribute to someone who was overjoyed by having a warm coat. She had so much joy and was so grateful, we remind ourselves to express our joy in the basics.

We have a wonderful new volunteer who has been helping with the distribution evenings. I happened to see her over the weekend, and I shared the wonderful news that our needs list was cleared of a majority of things — leaving the infant needs and the men’s 4XL coat. The volunteer shared that she was the one who helped the gentleman during distribution. This morning, she came in and told Nikolle she just couldn’t stop thinking about him. She brought in a brand new coat and shirt for the gentleman. Nikolle told her, “You made my day!” Her response was, “I made MY day!”

The holiday season is always challenging for many. Thirty-one percent of giving happens in December, and that’s just the monetary donations to keep our operations happening throughout the year. This is the season of wanting to share goodwill, to ensure that families have a warm place to sleep and some gifts under their tree for Christmas. It can be overwhelming for us at times, to have that much generosity come through our office. We’ll be celebrating the generosity of our community and working through the logistics of how to process all of it at the same time. Make no mistake — it’s work to design programs that are that magic formula of providing accountability without building barriers to accessing services. Providing solutions in an equitable way.

We’ve been fortunate to have a volunteer who has invested her time at our distribution events to work with our Karen families. Before she came, I had a woman who came in for a coat. We have a rack of what we call, “fashion” coats, which are the coats that are great for a light covering, but not truly warm. We encourage families to choose a warm coat along with a fashion coat. The woman that came in did not speak English. She found a coat that she loved — and it would be a fantastic coat for 30 degrees or warmer. I encouraged her to take an additional coat, but she kept telling me she was fine. I tried to explain to her, but it was a struggle. Finally, I had her put on the fashion coat. I grabbed an ice pack from the freezer and held it onto her arm. Then I had her put on the warm coat and held the ice pack through. She finally understood what I was telling her, and reluctantly put the fashion coat back on the rack. I stopped her and put both the fashion coat and the warm coat in a bag and handed it to her. When she understood that I was trying to tell her she could have both coats, we just wanted her to have a warmer options — well. It was beautiful.

Our Karen-speaking volunteer has been a true blessing to be able to communicate with families coming in that have never experienced a Minnesota winter. When families didn’t find what they needed, we took their information. When coats arrived in our dropboxes, she came in to call the families and ask them to come in to pick up coats. That’s equity right there. Language barriers are a very real thing. We don’t want anyone to learn about Minnesota winters the hard way.

Our greatest need right now are men’s medium warm coats, waterproof gloves and snowpants in the small and medium adult sizes. Adult items are often the hardest to find, but I encourage people to remember that it’s not always for an adult. My niece is as tall as I am, and she’s only 15. Drop boxes are still around town, and we’ll be distributing coats right up to the week of Christmas. While some boxes will be pulled Christmas week, they’ll be around town, and of course you can always drop off at our office. Our office hours can be challenging at times, with three women with young children at home — but Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. is our “golden time” that we try our best to have one of us in the office at all times. We’re there other times of course, but we could be out collecting or delivering coats! Feel free to stop by or give our office a call at 507-373-8670 to check and see if we’ll be in. We love to take a moment and share our work with our wonderful donors that make it all possible.

 

Erin Haag is the executive director of the United Way of Freeborn County.