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For 26 years of the Bounty history, it has been said that it never snowed on Christmas Day. To those who "Dream Of A White Christmas," that may be a continuing disappointment, but to the drivers who donate their time on Christmas Morning to deliver meals and toys to the homebound, it is a blessing.
Christmas 2010 was the year that the "White Christmas'ers" got their wish. It will also go into the Bounty history as the year that weather conditions caused the most difficulty and potential danger for the meal delivery drivers. On this Christmas morning, 63 drivers were scheduled to deliver 1109 meals and 115 toys on 63 planned routes. The coming of the storm was no secret. It was predicted almost a week prior to Christmas Day. As we progressed through the week, the weather continued to be "driver friendly." I thought to myself, "Why would the Lord allow such potently dangerous weather on the day that we were trying to send food to His children who were homebound and needed it? Why would He allow conditions to develop which could possibly negate all of the hard work by everyone involved with the Bounty Christmas Dinner? I thought to myself, "He knows best, and I have faith that He would not allow that to happen."
As Christmas approached, we monitored the weather forecast very closely. On Christmas Eve day, it was sunny, and in the low 40's! "Lord, can you please just let us have THIS weather tomorrow morning? It would sure make things a lot easier." On Christmas Morning, when we took our dog out for her morning, "constitution," it was 35°, overcast, and very still. I thought to myself, "Okay, if it stays like this, we will be in good shape. We can do this." As we drove to Immaculata School at 6:30, we started seeing a few flurries. By 9 am it was snowing, and worse, it was beginning to stick! The first drivers were scheduled to arrive at 10:00. I wondered why the Lord would allow this to happen.
When the kitchen was ready at 10:00, we began sending drivers through the loading process. It continued to snow, and it continued to snow, and it continued to snow! Our cell phone started ringing. Drivers who had not left home yet, wanted to know if Bounty was still going to deliver meals in this weather. We assured them that the operation was in full swing. As time progressed, driving conditions worsened.
Drivers come to deliver meals & toys to the homebound, despite the bad weather.
(Photo by Steve Rice)
We already had a few 4-wheel drive owners let us know that if any of our scheduled drivers cancelled, they would be more than willing to deliver the meals and toys. God Bless them. The snow continued, and the cell phone calls changed from, "Is Bounty still on," to "The roads are really starting to get bad, and I'm not sure I can get out of my driveway." As the cancellations continued, we scrambled to find others to deliver the meals. Some drivers came earlier than they were supposed to, because the roads were getting worse as time passed. This created total chaos in our "scheduling." I was having a really hard time understanding why the Lord would allow everything to go so "wrong." It was taking everything we had, and maybe even just a tiny bit more, just to keep the whole operation from falling apart.
At the peak of the "worse," something began happening for which we were not prepared. People who were not even part of the meal delivery schedule began showing up in line, asking, "If any of your drivers can't make it today, we'll be happy to deliver those meals." Drivers who made it in, asked if we needed them to deliver meals on MORE than just their route. A few drivers delivered meals to the people on their route, and came back to see if we needed them to deliver more. The chaos continued, but it began to turn more to an "organized" one. As these "angels" in 4-wheel drive vehicles arrived to help, we managed to cover each route that was left without a driver. One man showed up in a big diesel 4-wheel drive vehicle, and we gave him one such route. He delivered those meals, returned, and asked if he could drive ANOTHER route for us. At that point, we actually had everything covered! We still had about 15 routes to go, so we took his name and cell number. He was willing to park nearby and wait to see if we would get any more cancellations. As he was pulling away to park, the cell phone rang with another cancellation, and he was off delivering more meals & toys to the needy homebound. Eventually, all of the routes were completed.
We were exhausted, we were cold, and we were wet. But all of the meals and toys were delivered to the homebound that were unable to come to the Bounty Christmas Dinner. At that point, all we wanted to do was break down our operation in the parking lot and go home, because we didn't know if we would be able to get up the hill to our own driveway. We finished up what "business" we needed, inside, and asked the Lord to guide us home safely. He did, and although we were slipping and sliding, we made it up the hill to our driveway. There, we brushed almost 5 inches of snow off of the roof and hoods of our vehicles. Once we were safely home, we began to unwind. We cooked a small but very rewarding Christmas Dinner of our own. After dinner, as we recounted the day's events, we began to realize that the way the day played out was not at all left to chance. Could it be that we had witnessed our own little "Christmas Miracle?" Sometimes we think we know what is best, and how things should happen. I guess I needed a little "reminder" that The Lord really DOES know what he is doing, and just because things don't always happen the way WE plan them, if we trust Him, and have faith in him, He makes sure they still happen.
Thank you, to all of the parking lot volunteers who directed traffic and stuck with us out in the snow. Thank you, to all of the volunteers who loaded the vehicles with meals, desserts, and toys out in the cold snow. Thank you, to all of the folks who drove MORE than their assigned routes. And thank you, to those folks who were not even scheduled drivers, some who drove up to three routes!
Christmas 2010 was a gentle reminder to me that no matter what WE think or plan, the Lord is still in control.