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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 > +*+*+*+*+**+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ > >