Giving the "Happiest Christmas Ever"

This will be our last story from 2021 (then I’ll give y’all a break…for those that care to go on):

A few weeks ago, I posted about a young 20 year old woman that Empower4Life helped to get started in her first independent living space. She (unfairly) is the primary caregiver for her younger siblings and was starting from scratch. Following that post, loads of people reached out asking what they could do to help. Ironically enough, the following day (in my car) she asked me if I could come teach her how to cook for her family for Christmas. That was a hard “no” without hesitation because I don’t have those skills. She laughed. But, my wheels were spinning. As people reached out in the days ahead, I took a shot in the dark on messenger and formed a team of complete strangers but told this team I could not take the lead on this. These rockstars took off and delivered in an unbelievable way. We recently dropped off brand new kitchen towels, dish sets, cups, bakeware, crockpots, Pyrex dishes, knives, cutting boards, and a fully prepared frozen feast to be ready for the 25th and many days after. Meals to include homemade hash browns, waffles, ham, biscuits, veggies, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, Mac and cheese and an apple crisp. We also were able to provide a Christmas tree which she was really looking forward to. I wish I could thank this entire team but the leaders were Lauren Fulton (my old teammate), Whitney Nechay (a mutual friend in my community), Michael Schwindinger (my cousin), Karen Yoos Zarubaiko (my childhood soccer coach) and Monica E Lapenta, who I’ve recently met through a non-profit founders circle here in Baltimore.

This is my most favorite part about the work that we do…watching people tirelessly come together time and time again to make such a positive impact. Complete strangers, filling in gaps, using their skills and delivering/serving others.

But, even better…my favorite part about THIS particular story…Caitlin asking me to pick her up at 6am last Saturday morning so she could come to our empower holiday event and “give back”. This, by the way, was her only day off. On the way there she expressed her gratitude for making this the “happiest Christmas ever for her and her siblings”.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Thanks for reading!!