MerryChristmasBaldwinCounty finally arrived this morning at 7:45, and if you were arriving at 7:45 to get in line to get a gift for your family, you were already too late.  People started lining up as early as 2 and 3 a.m. this morning on the sidewalks of BCC, to get a box of food, (frozen turkey, sausage, bread, sweet potatoes, and some canned items), a teddy bear, a cd player and/or a bicycle.  At 7:30 I went walking down the lines outside of our church meeting the people who were there, shaking hands, saying hello, and wishing them a Merry Christmas.  The lines went on forever.  Most everyone said, “thanks for doing this.” 

The numbers aren’t in yet as to how many people we helped.  But I know we literally saw hundreds if not a thousand people or more today.  Unfortunately, I had to be one of the people who had to tell the last few people in line that we had run out of everything.  We gave away literally everything we had to give away.  By 11 a.m. we were sending people away who had waited since 6:30 with nothing but a bag of sweet potatoes.  That was probably one of the hardest things about today.  As I walked one family to their very old and apparently unreliable van, carrying a tricycle and a bag of sweet potates, another lady passed us, leaving our parking lot, weeping profusely, because there was nothing left for her to take away.  Memories like that of helping so many people, and not being able to help so many more will make this a day that I will never forget. 

(more photos and stories to come)