Yesterday I was on the road all day. Jay sent two people to work on the trim, since they can't paint until the trim gets finished. One guy went home early as he was sick. And Frank told me he went inside at one point and found the other guy sleeping. I was incensed. Even if it is your lunch break, you don't sleep in a customer's house!
I spent all day thinking of what I was going to say to Jay.
At the party last night I was telling someone about the guy sleeping in the house. Frank starts laughing! He said, I told you the guy was sweeping, not sleeping! Now I am glad I was too busy to call Jay!
Here is the first one. remember I wrote this to deliver orally.
Mr. Starnes and I met in an interesting
and unbelievable situation.
He works for the Tax Division of the
one of the best places to work in Baton Rouge, Postlewaite
Nettterville. He was handling the estate of his friends Ted and Anna
Anthos.
But first let me tell you about the
Anthos and offer you a bit of history. And let me tell you why it is
so important to be nice to the people who come through our doors as
potential adopters.
Ted was born in Poland in 1924. During
WWII the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany occupied Poland. Germany used
the Blitzkrieg to bomb the people into submission. Food as
confiscated from the people by the German Army so many Poles starved
to death. Polish Jews were sent to concentration death camps and
died. The Soviets destroyed industrial goods and machinery. Over
5.7 million Polish citizens died.
Ted was 15 when the Soviets took his
family. Through the Polish Resistance Movement known as the Home
Army, he organized a group of young men to work in clandestine
activities against the invaders. He was captured and sent to a
Russian Prison Camp for 2 years. This man was a leader and a
survivor.
Anna's father was a Colonel in the
Polish Army. He was able to escape to England with his family. After
his release from the Prison Camp, Ted was able to find his parents in
Siberia and bring them to England. He and Anna met and married.
After the war, he became a chemical
engineer for Stouffer Chemicals. He came to Baton Rouge to build a
plant and fell in love with the city. Anna got degrees in French
from LSU.
Ted and Anna had no children so like
many of us, their animals became their children. Upon their deaths,
they left their legacy to CAAWS. Part of which you keep tripping
over in the dog room, the huge dog wash that will be part of our
Building Remodel.
Back to Mr. Starnes.
Mr Starnes contacted me with the
wonderful news that we were one of the entities that had been left
this amazing gift by the Anthos. He has worked with me in the months
since. He has had unbelievable patience, initially working to
convince me this was not a prank and then through the flood when I
lost all my documentation, paperwork along with everything else I
owned.
The CAAWS board wanted to honor Mr
Starnes with this Community Partner Award because of the impact his
work will have on our future. I am still in awe of the generosity of
his friends, the Anthos. It is like a dream come true for me as
President, to be able to bring these changes to CAAWS, not only to
remodel our building but to fund Spay/Neuter Programs for years to
come and to expand the Low income Vet Assistance Programs.
I am so grateful to carry
on the future of this mission we have given ourselves to help
animals. Through the Anthos, Mr. Starnes was able to help us make or
dreams come true. Without your help, I have no idea how I would have
navigated this process. The Anthos were truly kind and generous
people. As recipients, we have an obligation to steward the use of
this gift.
You never know who will
walk through our doors because they have fallen in love with a face
on the internet, or because we have helped them in the past with a
spay coupon. It is so important to treat people with kindness and
respect. Like the Anthos. You want them to love our organization as
we do.
You just never know.
I am proud to offer the
Community Partner Award to Mr. Ed Starnes.
SO SO SO true -- kindness and respect are SO important.
ReplyDeleteWow you have absolutely the best news here for CAAWS and it is true, you never know to whom you are talking. Reminds me of a man I met in Houston who was wearing overalls and boots that he had been working in and were smelly and not in a nice way. I was polite but not welcoming as he put his hand out and introduced himself. He and my dad conversed and when the man left my dad turned and said that the man was a very wealthy man who believed in working hard and treating everyone fairly. That day he had been working on the ranch with the hands cleaning up a pasture full of manure, because it had to be done. A lesson that I didn't learn well enough because there are still things I cringe at doing and times when I think someone else should do things I don't want to. These people saw a need and they gave to your organization and their friend takes this desire to heart and works with you to realize their dream.
ReplyDeleteWhat a story for CAAWS. Mr. Starns sounds like the kind of man who just knows how to get things done and is not afraid to rolls his sleeves up. You have the absolutely perfect attitude toward others; there's no way of telling how important an encounter might be to someone else.
ReplyDeleteGoodness, your life is one big adventure (not that you needed an adventure like this one). No wonder. you are never at a loss for something to blog about. LOL. I just lead a plain old boring life.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete