From CRUDEM board member, Charles Dubuque:
What an amazing day!
Many of you know that I am not usually at a loss for words…well, try
sitting at a press conference that is hosted by a non-profit organization
that caters to the homeless of St. Louis. Have the host of the event
introduce the corporations that helped fund an event to benefit your
charitable organization!! Then, he introduces the staff that helped put it
together & then introduces a number of the homeless clients that worked
countless hours to do the baking…then, he shows a slide show of pictures
from Haiti & then shows a recent video from CRUDEM… I get so emotional
watching these. Well, at that point, Dan Buck, Executive Director of Saint
Patrick’s Center in St. Louis called myself, Susan & Steve Reese to the
podium to accept a check from their organization for $57,000.
I was speechless, emotional & grateful all at the same time. I am amazed
that a homeless shelter had the initiative, creativity & organizational
ability to reach out to another charity and give so extraordinarily. What
is so captivating to me is that St. Patrick’s reached out to another
organization. One of the clients who was recognized for the enormous hours
that he devoted to baking & packing the cookies, stated in front of the
gathering, “I’ve had it bad, had some tough times, but I never had it as
bad as those in Haiti, it was a pleasure to give something back”. People
just humble me, daily…
Well, I gathered myself after this extraordinary event & headed to Shriners
Hospital. I hadn’t see Jean Patrickson since his surgery. I walked into the
lobby & there he was squirming in his wheelchair with an enormous 10lb
metal brace on his leg.
He was preoccupied with the pain, you could tell it was wearing on him, he
just couldn’t sit still. I slowly described to Romel his cousin that I had
brought some cookies from St. Patrick’s Center for Jean & him. Romel’s eyes
grew wide when I described the bake sale & what it raised & who they raised
it for…he said, “people are so beautiful”. Jean was not interested in the
cookies, nor was he interested in the Ted Drewes custard that I brought for
them. He was just too focused on the pain. The minute Romel was out of his
site, Jean would arch his back to look for him, making sure he was nearby.
It was 30 minutes before his next dose of pain relief the nurse said. Romel
didn’t flinch, he just looked at the nurse, then at Jean & said “he will be
fine, I will be here”, and he quietly opened the container of Ted Drewes,
sat on the bed next to Jean & slowly tried to preoccupy Jean from the pain
he had until it was time for his medication.
A humbling day….but in such a good way!
