The Long and the Short of It

This post is going to be long and short.  For those up for a short update, read the short version.  For those with a little more time and interest, read the long version.

Short Version:  The dress collection project is complete.  I met up with Trinity, Mike, and their kids on Thursday and picked up the 20+ dresses that she collected, bringing the total of our dress collection to 50 dresses! I had to use my phone to get a picture of Trinity and I and of the Wilbourn family and there is some fatal flaw happening with my phone’s driver right now.  I can’t get the pictures off it to save my life.  Bummer. I was blown away by the amount of dresses.  I did a preliminary weigh of all the dresses, and they weigh over 50 pounds.  I was beginning to think I’d be taking a road trip up to NYC to deliver them rather than mail them, but that’s when Mary got me in touch with her co-worker’s husband, who just happens to run two UPS stores in our area. We talked, and he’s going to help get the dresses to NYC at cost…saving nearly 50% of the shipping costs that would have otherwise been occurred.  Again – I’m blown away.  I feel like we’ve been met with generosity at each step of this small effort, and it’s really an awesome feeling.  Thank you so much to everyone that helped make this collection effort a success – it is very, very appreciated!!!

Long Version: One of the books that I really love is called Good News About Injustice by Gary Haugen.  Gary is on the list of people I most respect who are doing “something” about injustice in the world.  This book had a paragraph that has stuck in my mind, and I wanted to share it with you… 

“In a world marred by painful scars of brutal abuse and the laughing evil of violent oppressors, a world where more people are held in slavery than at any previous point in history, the statistics of abuse can feel overwhelming.  We look at the massive numbers and are temped to ask, How can I possibly do anything to help?  We may even think, In the face of all the need in the world, my small efforts seem like a cruel joke.  But I believe we can all help meet the urgent – and yes, massive – needs of our world by keeping our eyes fixed on the humanity of the one child, the one widow, the one slave who is before us.  For while we may not be able to make the difference for all, we can make all the difference for one.”

When I first became impacted by what was happening in the world with human trafficking, the problem seemed overwhelming. It was so hard to wrap my mind around the terrible injustices that were happening and the fact that I felt like I couldn’t really do anything about it anyway.  But after knowing what you know, you just can’t forget you know it (if that makes sense).  It becomes less important if one’s ideas to “help” make a big impact or a small impact – it just matters that it makes some sort of impact. 

Making some small sort of impact is what I believe we did here.  This is no cure for poverty or a guarantee that Jane’s life will be problem-free.  But, it was a group of people who came together based on the need they became aware of and figured they could do something about it.  The actual mechanism of the effort may not be the answer, but I think the mindset is.

I really believe God allowed all the details of this collection effort to come together to make all the difference for one.  Jane will be the one recipient of all your efforts.  But I have been the other one blessed by this.  It has meant so much to me to see friends of mine, friends of my family, friends of friends, and even strangers offer their help in some way to make this collection what it ended up to be. 

So thank you,  Heather, Danna, Sandra, Mary, Paula, Katie, Nancy, Mom, Shenley, Bo, Julia, Briana, Trinity, Peter, and all the others who donated to Trinity’s collection. 

I really believe you made a difference.