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I was in charge of the food basket thing one year at work. We ended up collecting about $450!!! One of my coworkers generously offered to donate turkeys for the two families we were providing for, so that left me with $200 grocery/gift money for each child. I also had food and clothing donations from other coworkers. I ended up buying about 3 months' worth of staple foods as well as some fresh stuff and lots of baking supplies for each family. The one family didn't want to have anyone come to their house (I suspect a situation similar to what Imapseudonym encountered), but the second family welcomed us into their small bachelor apartment, gave us cookies and tea.... It was such a moving experience, my co-workers and I bawled all the way back to the office.
This family of four emigrated to Canada from Algeria to escape warlike-conditions over there and to give their daughters a chance to grow up without the sound of gunfire... Once they arrived, the husband discovered that his doctorate in mathematics didn't qualify him to teach in Canada, so he had to go to teacher's college, and the mother, an obstetrician/gynecologist in Algeria, also wasn't certified to practice here. Neither of them could get jobs in their PROFESSIONAL fields, so they were working retail jobs, scraping whatever money they could get to send each of them to school, one at a time.
When we met them, they and their two young daughters were living in a BACHELOR (for those of you who have never seen a bachelor, it's literally a ONE-ROOM apartment, not a one-bedroom.... just one room!). There were two mattresses on the floor. A double for the parents, and a double for the daughters. The mother had sewed curtains and had put colorful wallpaper remnants and used posters in old picture frames to brighten up the room, and they had a small, bistro-sized table as a dinner table. The mother made us tea and had us sit for a visit, and we chatted with them for .... about an hour?
I had grabbed two stuffed cat toys from my house before I'd left home that morning (My kids have way more stuffed toys than they'll ever need or play with)... I noticed that the two little girls each took one of the cats and went over to sit on their "bed", very quiet and thoughtful.... At that point, the mother, with tears in her eyes, told us that the girls were sad because they'd had to leave their pet cat behind in Algeria, and that we couldn't have chosen a more appropriate gift for them.
We realized as we were leaving that we had created a small problem for our new friends.... they didn't have anywhere to store all the food we'd brought! (they said they'd manage). It was by far, the most moving experience of my life.
This family of four emigrated to Canada from Algeria to escape warlike-conditions over there and to give their daughters a chance to grow up without the sound of gunfire... Once they arrived, the husband discovered that his doctorate in mathematics didn't qualify him to teach in Canada, so he had to go to teacher's college, and the mother, an obstetrician/gynecologist in Algeria, also wasn't certified to practice here. Neither of them could get jobs in their PROFESSIONAL fields, so they were working retail jobs, scraping whatever money they could get to send each of them to school, one at a time.
When we met them, they and their two young daughters were living in a BACHELOR (for those of you who have never seen a bachelor, it's literally a ONE-ROOM apartment, not a one-bedroom.... just one room!). There were two mattresses on the floor. A double for the parents, and a double for the daughters. The mother had sewed curtains and had put colorful wallpaper remnants and used posters in old picture frames to brighten up the room, and they had a small, bistro-sized table as a dinner table. The mother made us tea and had us sit for a visit, and we chatted with them for .... about an hour?
I had grabbed two stuffed cat toys from my house before I'd left home that morning (My kids have way more stuffed toys than they'll ever need or play with)... I noticed that the two little girls each took one of the cats and went over to sit on their "bed", very quiet and thoughtful.... At that point, the mother, with tears in her eyes, told us that the girls were sad because they'd had to leave their pet cat behind in Algeria, and that we couldn't have chosen a more appropriate gift for them.
We realized as we were leaving that we had created a small problem for our new friends.... they didn't have anywhere to store all the food we'd brought! (they said they'd manage). It was by far, the most moving experience of my life.
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