If you received something in the mail and you want to thank your helper, post a comment on this post. We understand that many of you are unwilling to say thanks in public on Facebook. But read on, and know any show of gratitude means the world.
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Hi again ladies,
I know you are (hopefully) up to your eyeballs in emails, but I had to share... I couldn't believe my eyes on addresses you gals sent me (Bloomingdale, IN and Hilsborough, NJ). You see, I graduated from Bloomingdale High School, in Hillsborough County, FL! Since I'm fairly certain you're not stalking me, there's no way you could've known that! Anyway, it gives me goosebumps every time I read it. :) Proof positive that somebody "up there" thinks that this project is worth doing!!!
Keep it up ladies,
C
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Lydia and Kate!!!
I just have to let you know what happened to our family in regards to your exchange!!!! I'm in awe! Last year our family was in need, but I didn't ask for help because
although we could have used the help, we were able to get through on our
own, and I knew there were so many more in need than us. So I watched
your experiment unfold and touch so many lives! I wanted to be a part of
it all!
Over the last year our situation has improved with a new
job for both my husband and myself. I saved a few dollars here and there
so I could be a giver this year! Things are still tight, but we are
good. And so with my $100 in hand I got a Walmart gift card for my
match. My husband was skeptical to give so much money to a stranger,
trusting that they needed it more than us, but I put my faith in God,
and mailed it!
Yesterday a distant family member who has never given
us anything but best wishes for Christmas, felt the need to give us a
gift. A card with 100$ gift card to Walmart! God is amazing! And you are helping do His work here in earth! Thank you for letting me be a part if these miracles!!!
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Dear Kate and Lydia,
Dear Kate and Lydia,
Then, I got home and there was a package in the mail! I received a gift card for $40 which is going to buy quite a bit for our daughter, and a kids movie (YAY!!!) and some candy for stocking stuffers. She also sent some lip balm (which I always seem to need) and I don't know how she knew I needed mascara, but she sent mascara. I've been putting off buying mascara because we needed other things like food, and I have been scraping and trying to get the last bit out of mine. So needless to say, lots more ugly crying. Thank you Kelley for your kindness and caring package. You are truly a God send! We will never forget it, and I hope that one day I can do this for another struggling family. Thank you Kate and Lydia for putting this all together. You guys are amazing, caring women that can make me laugh and and cry at the same time.
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Dear Ladies,
I had to share with you this crazy, awesome story that happened today. I know that you'll love it because it is Christmas magic and totally why we do this. I got the name of a Mama who needs help through Give it up Mommyland. I went to Target and bought her a $50 gift card and mailed it today. My son is a freshman in high school and had his phone stolen last fall & the kids who did it were caught and I was told that I would be receiving partial/full restitution for the phone. My son came home from school and gave me (drum roll please....) a $50 bill from one of the kids as a first payment! Awesome to get that money back, but I think that God may have been sending me a message and I've got to go out and do more good with it. Thanks for the other ideas - I'll be heading to WalMart to pay off a lay away. :-)
Thanks again for setting this up and helping so many ladies. It was a great surprise for me to get today too!
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Hookers,
I want to tell you about something neat and almost unbelievable that happened regarding the exchange. I noticed a few days ago that I needed a new sponge, ours was gross and smelly and unusable. While getting a few things at walmart yesterday I grabbed a pack of sponges but had to put it back at the checkout because I didn’t have enough. Today I checked the mail and saw that I got a package. Inside was a clutch purse, a gift card to walmart, AND A PACK OF SPONGES! I could not believe it. A card explained that they had gone to get sponges because they ran out and her son suggested they include some sponges in the package and that every household needed sponges. I am still in shock! Thank you for organizing the exchange and thank you to Amy and her family for the sponges and for allowing me to put some Christmas gifts under the tree this year!
I don't know how someone knew I wanted help but was too afraid that my problems were too small to ask. So many need so much more than I do. But I somehow received a gift card from a Helping Hooker. I was able to get a new headlight for my car. Thank you Ladies. I can't wait until its my turn to be a Helping Hooker. Thank you for all you do.
(c)Herding Turtles, Inc. 2009 - 2012
I read the sponge story the other day on FB and sobbed Oprah ugly style. Reading these stories is just so helpful right now. More than ever, this year, we need this.
ReplyDeleteIt's 9:54 AM and I am crying on my couch. Thank you for reminding me why Christmas is awesome.
ReplyDeleteI feel so awful. We had an unexpected funeral, so my gift got out late. I hope my mommy doesn't think she's been forgotten. It should get to Fort Wayne IN tomorrow. Please keep an eye out for it.
ReplyDeleteThese thank yous are amazing, I am so excited to be part of this project this year.
These posts are so amazing! The best part of the holidays for me this year - sending the envelopes to my three matches AND all the incredible stories...
ReplyDeleteI love reading all of these stories! We were helped last year when we really needed it. We're in a better spot now, but wasn't sure I could help. Unfortunately, I missed the deadline this year, but we've been helping locally - barely used outgrown jackets and nearly new toys passed out to kids at the women/children's shelter my grandmother used to work at and things like that.
ReplyDeleteHere's whats really awesome to me. My son got a couple of gift cards for his birthday (Target & Coldstone Creamery), and passed them on via the card tree at church to a single mom with cancer who attends our church. This is likely her last Christmas, and he just felt that she and her 5 kids needed those gift cards more than he did. It's so awesome to see that the lessons we've been modeling are finally bearing fruit in our amazing 8-year-old!
Thank you so so so much for organizing such an amazing effort. You know...I could help you out with matching next year if ya send me a list!
These posts have been bringing a smile to my face (and an occasional tear to my eye). I'm hoping next year won't be so scary bad for us so that I can help someone out! It just makes me so happy to realize that there are still strong and amazing people out in the world.
ReplyDeleteMy gift got sent out late too...keep looking if you haven't gotten yours yet in WV!!
ReplyDeleteI sent my gift out today. The PO said it would get delivered Saturday. I wasn't able to give much, but my 18 year old son added a $20 gift card too. My younger 2 agreed to get less presents from Santa so we could help our mom out. I'm so proud of all 3 of my kids!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much brooke jenkins from riverton utah. i received your gift yesterday and was amazed at your willingness to help someone you dont know. because of you my son and my neice will have christmas presents this christmas and i just cant think you enough.
ReplyDeleteSuch an amazing project and I am happy I was able to be a small part of it. Last year I considered entering myself for help, but decided I could make do (with $400 a month in income, there wasn't much to spare). This year we are hardly making it, but I wanted to help. I knew that it was more important to help someone else than to spend it on "stuff" we really didn't need. I know it wasn't much,Mommy I Helped, but I hope it got to you in CA, and I hope you and yours were able to find something to make Christmas special.
ReplyDelete<3 ~Niffer
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ReplyDeleteI loved reading these! I was a Helped Mama this year and I want to say a huge Thank you to Carly in Wa!! I believe in paying it forward and you can bet your sweet bottoms (and those of your wine glasses to of course because every drop counts!), that it will be paid forward. Thank you Ladies of RFML very much! <3
ReplyDelete(PART 1) Ok ladies I do not know hot to begin!!!! Words can not express how very thankful I am right now. Please note as I am writing this I am crying happy tears!!! I know this may not be the way things usually go BUT WOW!!!! First off when I first emailed you all asking for help, my heart hurt so bad because here I knew my husband and I couldn't afford Christmas this year! The crazy thing is we both are working this Christmas so we honestly thought this Christmas season was going to be the best!!! NOT!! I had surgery late September which caused me to miss 2 weeks of work and then right as I got released to go back to work my dad, who has been sick for while, just got worse so I stayed by his side for 4 days taking care of him, then unexpectedly he "retired" to the almighty home of homes! You would think me being the youngest out of 12 kids, only 10 living, that we all could/would pitch in to help pay for his final expenses, UM NO not my siblings, also I am the only out of all the kids with a family of my own!Although my dad was a Veteran of the Vietnam war, the benefits do not cover every thing so instead of grieving the loss of my dad, my husband and I had to go from one bank to another from one credit union to another to try to get a 7995$ loan to pay for the funeral, we finally got a loan. My point in telling you all this is that loan payment has taken up all of our "extra" money. I knew that my kids' birthdays and Christmas this year were going to be slim. So when I saw the post about hookers giving it up, I submitted my name and a long version, lol, of my story! For any one who knows me I am the type of person that will bend over back wards to help some one, regardless the situation, so to have the shoe on the other foot was/is an eye opener. On 12/17/2012 I received a package from a hooker, CAIT SCOTT from California, she had a target gift card, a starbucks gift card, crafts for the kids, chocolate oranges, and chocolate wafers!!! OMW that lifted my spirits so much, Cait my 2 middle children, both girls, had to make the lil house that night it turned out so cute how very thoughtful of you, I can not tell you how appreciative and humble I am!!! (CONTINUED)
ReplyDelete(PART 2) Yesterday 12/20/12, I had to stay home from work due to catching the nasty flu bug that has been going around the office, I go to check the mail and very very much to my surprise there is another Christmas card from Chelsey of CO, with a note telling me thank you for making my holiday brighter, ok those words just melted my heart, I made her holiday brighter, Chelsey if you read this I would like to thank you because those words alone made my spirits lift even higher, I called the hubby and told him another hooker gave it to me to us to our babies, Chelsey sent us another target gift card! Wait I am not done!!! Tuesday 12/18, I received a note in my mailbox from usps stating that there is a package they tried to deliver but no one was home, we had to go pick it up from our local usps. I had my husband do that last night on his way home from work, he calls me and says do you know a Natalie Mason from IL, and said I don't think so, he said well its something from her to you. He brings the package inside I open it up and sure enough a third hooker gave it up to my family!!! Natalie Mason of IL, in the card she wrote " I hope this little gift brightens your holiday from one frazzled family to another! Natalie, Todd, Jeff, and Carol of IL thank you so much!!! They sent two target gift cards! This last act of kindness just broke me I started crying, then the hubby started crying! Then I thought is this my dad's way of stepping in and telling me thank you, is this his way of telling me everything is going to be ok? You three ladies I am in awe of your thoughtfulness, kindness, generosity, encouraging words, and your act to give!!! Thank you Thank you Thank YOU!!!! I know this story is long, just understand I have so many emotions going through my head right now it is unbelievable!!!! Thank you Kate, Lydia, and Guru Louise for putting this all together, if it weren't for you awesome 3 ladies and the 3 most wonderful hookers who gave it up to me, there honestly wouldn't be much to celebrate this year! I know the reason for the season its not gifts nor the amount of gifts and my children do as well, because usually we are the family that donates things and our time. You ladies have lifted my spirits so ridiculously high its unreal!!! I seriously can not thank you all enough!!!!!
ReplyDeleteLOVE
Stephanie Scott of MO
3 lovely hookers gave it up to me and fam!!!!
You guys, I am extra, extra thankful for my hooker. She is an amazing woman and I GOT TO MEET HER IN PERSON!!!! Tiffany H in South Carolina, you know who you are :)Tiffany brought more than gifts into my home, she brought me a smile that I really needed, and a reminder that there are good people in this world.. I could go on for miles about how rough our year has been, but last night was kind of a nail in the coffin for me. After moving 4 times this year, we've only been in our home for a little over a month & we had a lot of rain last night. Our basement (where my washer & dryer are located) flooded, thanks to some cracks in our foundation. All the dirty clothes that were down there got drenched, since we had neither a laundry basket to put them in or laundry soap to wash them with. I just cried & cried last night- not knowing what I was going to do except watch the little bit of warm clothing we have be ruined.
ReplyDeleteWell, Tiffany came to my house this morning & brought me: You guessed it, a brand new laundry basket & a box with 120 loads of washing powder!!! She brought TONS of other things, too, but after she & her husband got back in the car & I saw that, I just burst into tears. She even brought some holiday creature comforts, like a bag of M&M's and a bottle of Sparkling Grape! There was so much in the basket, even a huge box of treats for my dog! She brought my daughter 2 new pairs of shoes, and PJ's, and a beautiful outfit as well- and her very favorite thing ever, a Minnie Mouse & a 12 pack of Mickey Mouse club house board books. You want to talk about an ugly cry... I have periodically burst into tears throughout the day- while I have gratefully done my laundry, while I rocked my baby for a nap, while she cuddled her minnie & just cooed on & on about minnie, and I cried really hard on the bus on my way home from Wal-mart. With the gift card she gave me I was able to get my husband some much-deserved presents. The bus driver even asked me if I was okay!! I was happy to tell him I was more than okay, for once!
I can't begin to put into words what Tiffany's kindness did for me & my little family today. Next year, I hope I will be in a position to help someone else, and I hope I can bring them even a fraction of the joy that the H's have brought me this year. Thank you, Tiffany H & your beautiful family.