Monday, September 19, 2011

THANK THE VOLUNTEERS

I love seeing people helping people.

North Minneapolis was hit by tornadoes this summer. The devastation was unbelievable. A lot of people that were forced from their homes or had much damage were people that had very little in the first place. It was like adding insult to injury. It was sad.

The outpouring of help from the community was fantastic.

I was driving a bus a day or two after the storms. As I pulled up to a bus stop on Nicollet Mall, there were three people standing there with bikes. The bike racks only hold two bikes. It was later at night and buses didn't run as often so I told them they could bring one on the bus, just put it out of the way as much as possible.

They thanked me repeatedly and loaded up their bikes and boarded. The two guys and the girl were talking to each other about their day. They spent over 12 hours on the north side helping with storm clean-up. I noticed when they got on they all paid with transfers, which means they paid cash fares. They spent their own money to catch two buses and ride their bikes to a neighborhood foreign to them to help people in need. I was touched.

I called the Control Center and told them about these people. I had overheard them planning to go back again the next day. I asked for permission to give them each two free ride transfers so they wouldn't have to spend their own money. They thought it was a great idea and told me I could.

I gave them each the transfers as they got off the bus. They acted like I gave them gold. I thanked them for helping people that really needed it. I told them if the world was filled with people like them, it would be an awesome place to live.

If you can't be a volunteer, at least thank one. They truly appreciate it!

3 Comments:

Blogger Busboy said...

Sweet. You and the kids rock.

4:40 AM  
Anonymous Eric said...

Jeanne, you are sooooo right when you say if only there were more volunteers the world would be a much better place. After moving from Virginia to New York when I was 14 years old, I found it hard to adjust to the "hustle bustle" and what I considered rudeness by many residents. I became a Red Cross Volunteer and for 4 years volunteered at a psychiatric Veterans Hospital. Now for the past 22 years I've worked in In-Pt Psychiatry at HCMC and love it!

1:40 AM  
Anonymous Jason said...

Such a nice and interesting article which lot of people that were forced from their homes or had much damage were people that had very little in the first place. Indeed its great to have this article posted.

9:17 AM  

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