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| image taken from NYCares.org |
W/ the temperature close/less than freezing outside, walking around 6 a.m in the morning is not an easy thing to do, especially for one who's coming from tropical country where it's summer all year round. But rather than curling up in bed for the whole day, I thought that there's something better for me to do. That's when I browse through the list of projects and come across the 22nd Annual New York Cares Coat Drive.
For this project, I need to be at NY Penn Station as early as 7 o'clock in the morning. Given that the walking time from my room to the path train is 30 minutes and the duration from the path train to 33rd street is 20 minutes, the total travel time will be about an hour (+- 10 minutes waiting time for the train). And it means that I need to leave my room exactly or before 6 a.m. I don't know how (because i'm not so much of an early-riser) but just believe me that I was able to made it on time for the project (yes I did!). Disregarding the fact that i'm able to be there on time (sorry folks for stressing that points out :p), let me tell you a little bit about it.
For this project, I need to be at NY Penn Station as early as 7 o'clock in the morning. Given that the walking time from my room to the path train is 30 minutes and the duration from the path train to 33rd street is 20 minutes, the total travel time will be about an hour (+- 10 minutes waiting time for the train). And it means that I need to leave my room exactly or before 6 a.m. I don't know how (because i'm not so much of an early-riser) but just believe me that I was able to made it on time for the project (yes I did!). Disregarding the fact that i'm able to be there on time (sorry folks for stressing that points out :p), let me tell you a little bit about it.
The weather in the states can be terrifying, especially during the winter time. It's frozen to the marrow! Without proper clothing to keep them warm, mother nature could lead one to suffer from hypothermia. And if he/she were exposed in that kind of condition for a period of time, the worst case that could happen will be the failure of major organs to work thus leading to death. This may sounds too extreme but that's the fact peeps.
For this project (which I happens to do it for several times), I open up a booth w/ 2 banner stands on the side and few boxes for people to drop their clothes. I need to make sure that everything is ready before 7.30 a.m because that's the time when people started flooding into Penn Station (the main terminal that connecting them to subway station and buses). The busyness of the morning is something that I never experienced before. I do expect a lot of people will be there but it was way beyond my imagination. New York Cares have been advertising this event for quite a while before it actually started. The collected coats will then be distributed to homeless adults and other New Yorkers who are forced to make a choice between buying a winter coat and putting food on the table.
What amazed me was their (New Yorker) means of giving. At first, I must say that I'm quite pessimist as I wondered who's going to give their clothes to strangers that they hardly know their names. I thought only few people will stop by but it turns out that I was totally wrong about it. For the whole 3 hours (project duration each day) I worked non-stop as people keep coming one after another. There's even same people keep coming over asking whether we have had enough coats collection. For each coat donation given, we offered tax exemption form for them and also $100 coupon to get new coat from Weatherproof. I forgot to mention that this event is also co-sponsored by Weatherproof.
Oh there's this one person that I couldn't forget. I saw her walking towards our booth but couldn't see her bringing any coats and so I assume she's just gonna ask about the event and she did. But then, she poses another question: "what size of coats that you needed the most?" and Allison (my partner for the project) tell her that it would be great if we could get men's large or extra large and she just walk away after that. And I thought that she's just another passer-by who wanted to know about the event. The very next day, I saw her coming again to us but this time she have few bags w/ her and as she reached the boxes, she open up the bags and dumped all the coats. Before she left, I asked why did she ask the question yesterday and she told me that she were asking because she wanted to make sure that she bought the right sizes. I said to her why does she bother going through all the troubles buying new coats for these people? Can't she just give the one that already being used? She told me that rather than giving the one that already being used, she would love them to have new coats to wear and that's why she bought the coats. I told her that the people who receive these coats didn't know that she's the one that donates it and it's impossible for them to thank her. And she said to me, "I don't mind about it at all. Knowing that someone will get to wear new coats rather than the one that already worn out is enough for me". And with a smile on her face, she slowly walks away and fades through the crowds. Her kindness amazed me. I'm lost for words.
For this project (which I happens to do it for several times), I open up a booth w/ 2 banner stands on the side and few boxes for people to drop their clothes. I need to make sure that everything is ready before 7.30 a.m because that's the time when people started flooding into Penn Station (the main terminal that connecting them to subway station and buses). The busyness of the morning is something that I never experienced before. I do expect a lot of people will be there but it was way beyond my imagination. New York Cares have been advertising this event for quite a while before it actually started. The collected coats will then be distributed to homeless adults and other New Yorkers who are forced to make a choice between buying a winter coat and putting food on the table.
What amazed me was their (New Yorker) means of giving. At first, I must say that I'm quite pessimist as I wondered who's going to give their clothes to strangers that they hardly know their names. I thought only few people will stop by but it turns out that I was totally wrong about it. For the whole 3 hours (project duration each day) I worked non-stop as people keep coming one after another. There's even same people keep coming over asking whether we have had enough coats collection. For each coat donation given, we offered tax exemption form for them and also $100 coupon to get new coat from Weatherproof. I forgot to mention that this event is also co-sponsored by Weatherproof.
Oh there's this one person that I couldn't forget. I saw her walking towards our booth but couldn't see her bringing any coats and so I assume she's just gonna ask about the event and she did. But then, she poses another question: "what size of coats that you needed the most?" and Allison (my partner for the project) tell her that it would be great if we could get men's large or extra large and she just walk away after that. And I thought that she's just another passer-by who wanted to know about the event. The very next day, I saw her coming again to us but this time she have few bags w/ her and as she reached the boxes, she open up the bags and dumped all the coats. Before she left, I asked why did she ask the question yesterday and she told me that she were asking because she wanted to make sure that she bought the right sizes. I said to her why does she bother going through all the troubles buying new coats for these people? Can't she just give the one that already being used? She told me that rather than giving the one that already being used, she would love them to have new coats to wear and that's why she bought the coats. I told her that the people who receive these coats didn't know that she's the one that donates it and it's impossible for them to thank her. And she said to me, "I don't mind about it at all. Knowing that someone will get to wear new coats rather than the one that already worn out is enough for me". And with a smile on her face, she slowly walks away and fades through the crowds. Her kindness amazed me. I'm lost for words.
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| My name tags :D |
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| Weatherproof co-sponsored the event by offering discounts for their coats given to each donator |
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