Congratulations, Williamsburg! You did it again!
It never ceases to amaze us at Williamsburgs Homeless & Indigent how concerned citizens give and give generously at Christmas. But in a last minute frenzy, thanks in no small part to the article the Gazette ran, donations poured in to supply Christmas gifts for the homeless and needy in our community. In all, over 230 individuals were "adopted" at no less than $100/each. That's over $23,000! On behalf of the recipients, since most of the donors chose to remain anonymous, thank you, thank you, thank you!
For financially struggling parents, one major concern at Christmas is the mental health of their children. Though it may seem trivial to us adults, not receiving gifts can be a devastating blow when the kids return to school and hear other kids reporting on what they recieved. Further, though it takes some humility to accept other peoples' donations, it matters to homeless and impoverished adults that "Santa" brings something for their children to enjoy.
WHI as an organization would like to thank the following businesses/groups/individuals for either time or monetary donations (while maintaining some anonymity for privacy's sake):
Deanne and family, Sword Flooring, Hall Ford employees, Long & Foster, our Daily Press/Va Gazette custmors who sent donation checks into the ministry along with our Christmas tips, Catherine Sweeney and family, Carraba's, Jim and Ann Moore, Tequila Rose II, New China, St. Martin's Episcopal (provided the hall and laborers for the dinner), military and CW employees, Santa with his wife and helpers (Giggles the Clown andcompany), and, finally, our founder (Patti McKenzie) who spent untold hours on the phone organizing,shopping, and cooking to make it all come together.
With this great success buoying our spirits, we wish you and yours a very happy New Year, and pray that you may prosper for your generosity!
Geoff McKenzie

The Christmas Giving Tree

As of tomorrow, we only have 1 week til our Christmas Dinner. The need has been overwhelming, as Salvation Army referred over 100 people to us! Not that I am panicking, but just trying to ensure all on the list a Merry Christmas. Tomorrow we are adding 21 more names and their wishes. Overall, we have 1 week (actually less) to have 95 people, young and old, to be adopted. If you are interested in adopting a person, click on the link on the side and you will see the people's wishes (email me their name(s) so I can remove them from the list). If you can't do the shopping, we will do it for you (after we receive the money.) Although it would be nice for you to join us for dinner, it is not required in order to make a person's Christmas brighter!

I give you 3 guesses of where I have spent the past 2 1/2 days...give up? In the hospital! Thursday, after route, I wasn't feeling like myself...loss of appetite, fevers, chills and nausea. Great, best time to get the flu! By 5:00PM, my upper right side, under my rib cage, had a dull ache. So I figured I would take a nap, since I had been running on empty for days. Then at 6:00, my ache became a throbbing. When 8:00 rolled around and I was still awake, I thought a gang of knives was attacking me, the pain was so great. I told Geoff I was going to the hospital because I was having an appendacitis attack. He said it was too high up for that, but off I drove as fast as possible. After crawling through the parking lot and finally able to somewhat walk through the ER doors, I was ready to collapse. I was taken immediately into the back and test began. Then at 10:00 they brought me 64 ounces of lemonade (ya right...anytime a hospital offers you a drink...don't! It is a trick!) Actually, it was a contrast drink for the CT Scan they were going to run on me. The doctor said they had to do it this way because where I was describing was too high for my appendix. Needless to say, by 2:00AM Friday morning, I was on the operating table for an emergency appendectomy. It was about to rupture! They finally released me today at Noon.

Sentara, as boring as a hospital can be, was great. Since I don't have insurance, they are seeking grants from foundations to assist in my hospital bill. I was able to sleep as much as I wanted (which turned out not to be a lot.) And best of all, I could have all the free milk I wanted (hey that made it all worthwhile.)

Unfortunately, at one of my busiest mments, I must spend the next week at 25mph. That is hard to do for me, but considering the pain (although it is different now) is still pretty intense. I have to walk a lot, so a neighbor, who is studying to be a nurse, is going to take me for small walks when she is off. The pain causes me some dizziness, so I need to be chaperoned on these little adventures around the block. I can't take any more time off from work, so I need to find somebody who can drive me on my route and help with the papers and walk my apartments since I am not allowed to do stairs for a week.

But the way I see it, it could have been worse. At least I will be around for our Christmas Giving Tree program!