Thank you for sharing a "moment" in your lifetime, Camilla.  I hope that
when our time comes, we leave some of this behind.

E of the headdress


At 12:12 PM 9/22/2000 -0400, you wrote:
>Long, long ago, when I was a child during the Great Depression, there was
>an appeal in our Indianapolis newspaper for money for the "Babies' Milk
>Fund" to buy milk for poor infants.
>I suspect that my parents were encouraging when I decided that this was
>something I should do something about!  We neighborhood kids who played
>hide and seek, run sheep run, etc together came up with a plan.  We would
>collect empty bottles, which could be turned in at the grocery store for a
>penny apiece, and give that money to the Fund.
>One of the girls had a little red wagon--you remember those--and offered to
>bring it along to carry the bottles we collected.  She and her little
>sister joined me, and we set off around the neighborhood, on our errand of
>mercy.  As we bravely knocked on doors, asking for empty bottles we could
>return for credit at the store, and explaining our "cause", neighbors
>responded graciously.  Soon we had filled the wagon with as much as it
>would hold, and headed for the neighborhood grocery--no supermarket in
>those days.
>Cashing in our bottles, we were excited to learn that we had a grand total
>of 27 cents---a much more impressive sum then than it would be for kids
>today !   Our next target was the branch bank, also within walking
>distance, where we could turn in the money to be credited to the Milk Fund,
>and the three of us headed there (without the wagon).
>The bank was pretty impressive---vaulted ceiling, rows of cashiers cages
>behind high counters, floor of marble--the works.  We made our way to one
>of the cashier's windows, stood on tiptoe to hand her the coins,
>instructed her that they were for the Fund, then made it out of there as
>quickly as possible, feeling very proud and benevolent.
>The next day's paper , which always listed contributions to the Fund, had a
>headline that read "Three Little Girls Give 27 Cents"---and a brief article
>which described us and said we had not given our names---our take on that
>was,"Nobody asked us !"  .  I kept that yellowed clipping  for many
>years,as a reminder of  how important a tiny act of concern could be---and
>how good it felt to know we had tried to "make a difference".
>
>
>        Camilla Flintermann               <[log in to unmask]>
>
>        On PDWebring at :
>http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/genugten/flinterm.htm
>
>        *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
>         "You must *be* the change you wish to see in the world" - Gandhi
>        +*+*+*+*+**+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
>
>