WeCareCannon

It was late March back a few years ago. Michael, the three kids, and I had just gotten back from the Spring break trip to the island.  My day had been going well, even though it was overcast and a bit cooler than my fresh-from-the-Caribbean body was longing for. I was upbeat and happy, with joy in my heart from ten days spent loving on Saba.

I wheeled up to Woodbury Grammar School for some sort of “mom duty”.  As I parked the car on the front curb of the building, I noticed the school principal, Mrs. Bonnie Patterson, and the assistant, Mr. Jeff Todd, parking as well and getting out of a car. As my feet hit the pavement, I met the two school administrators with a smile and a happy, “Hey guys, how are y’all?”

I did not expect the response, but it has forever changed me. Mrs. Bonnie replied…

“You want a mission field, I have you a mission field. We just came from filling the fridge and pantry shelves of a house where some of our students live. It was practically empty, Aletha, empty! We have to do something.”

For me, that is how WeCareCannon began. And that's also when Bonnie Patterson became one of my favorite people. 

When a few men and women from our community began to roll around the idea of our community being motivated and pulled together to help each other out, I HAD to be involved. Folks started talking about school supplies and backpacks. Then school appropriate shoes. And if you are giving new shoes, why wouldn’t you give socks too? I will never forget attending a county principal’s meeting and being told, “Underwear! They need underwear too!”  Little by little, others began to throw in ideas. Before long medical exams, dental checkups, haircuts, and hygiene products were on the lists of musts.

Once one knows, how can you not pitch in and help in some way?

But this is what is on my heart…

It isn’t about a free handout.  It isn’t about doing something because you think this is what someone else needs so that you can pillow your head at night and feel good. It isn’t about donating a chunk of change and then turning a deaf ear to the real needs of the families and children of our community.

It’s about meeting a child and asking their name. It’s about having a conversation about their grandfather who is about to have surgery and praying over his healing.

It’s about giving a young lady a fresh haircut. When she looks in the mirror, she doesn’t think about it being free, but she feels confident and she remembers the stylist that was kind.

It’s about a child being able to run and play like the other kids in class, with shoes that are appropriate on a gym floor and fit perfectly.

It’s about the grandmother who is raising her four grandkids. Her worry is lifted by the kind gestures, needed supplies, and encouraging acceptance.

It’s about a volunteer freezing in a gym while handing out supplies, realizing she’d rather be uncomfortable for a few hours so a child can be comfortable for an entire school year in the appropriate size new underwear.

It’s about a kid seeing a lady in Piggly Wiggly. The two see each other and immediately hug and begin to talk about how the school year has gone.

It’s about the man that wrote a pretty hefty check to financially support WeCareCannon.   He shows up the day of the event to be a tour guide. The same hand that wrote the check, holds the hand of a new kindergarten student, encouraging them that they are going to love their new school and do absolutely wonderful!

It’s not only about a financial need. It’s about an emotional need. It’s about an intellectual need. It’s about the need of stress relief and the absence of worry.

WeCareCannon is really about a feeling that I wish could take over not only our little community, but our country and our world.  If we help each other out…and we ALL need help in some way at some time…then we don’t get bogged down with what the government should or shouldn’t do or about somebody taking too many handouts and the such.

It’s about the need of unity and understanding and love.

Really it all boils down to this…“Treat others as you want to be treated.”

It’s as easy as a backpack. It’s as little as a cap eraser. It’s as simple as a smile or kind word.

It’s as big as a child’s life changed forever.