TRASH, VANDALISM AND FIRES . . . ALL SO SAD.

 

Yesterday, I told you that my hand was hurting from overusing my trash grabber.  I bought a brace that is supposed to help with carpal tunnel, and I think it's really helping.  No pain today.  (Henry & Stella were checking it out!)

I'm going to take a break picking up trash so my hand can heal, and when I'm ready, I'll go back out, but not for as long, and I won't pick up as much.  Maybe an hour at a time, not three hours.  Maybe 1,000 pieces a day, not 3,000 pieces.

To reach my one-million-piece goal by the end of summer, I need help.  

I sent text messages and emails to my friends and neighbors and asked people who have been supportive of me to be part of my team.

I will create a card for everybody who wants to pick up trash.  I'll keep these cards in alphabetical order, and when someone picks up trash, be it one piece or a hundred pieces, they can let me know, and I will record the number and the date on their card.  I will add all these numbers to my total, but I will still keep them separate so when we reach one million pieces together, I can recognize everybody who helped make this happen.

Having a team of friends and neighbors was something I wanted to do when I reached a million pieces, but because of my injury, it's going to happen now.  I'm very excited about being part of a team!

I met a little girl and her mom last summer.  She texted me that she wanted to help, but she lost her trash grabber.  She asked if I could drop off another one.  Two would even be better.   They wanted to pick up trash on their street together.  I told her I'd be right over.

On my way back home, I noticed a whole unit of apartments had caught fire earlier today.

I showed you pictures of hundreds of crayons scattered all over this playground beside the homes that were on fire.  Now all these families have no place to live.

I don't know how the fire started, but I have to wonder if the kids who vandalized the playground had anything to do with it.

Trash, vandalism and house fires . . . all very sad.

I met several of the families that lived in these homes.  They were so nice to me.  I feel so bad for what they're going through right now.