I remember a time that my girlfriend at that time, Kay, along with Millie , Margaret and myself went up to a warehouse on Monroe Ave. in downtown Memphis. They would not tell me what we were going there for but what red blooded American boy would not have followed these girls anywhere.

Once we got there we walked inside and an older man with glasses spoke to Margaret and said “I see you brought friends this time, thank you so much we can use the help and I have just the job for you four, come with me”. He sat us down in front of a table that was filled with all kinds of candies. It had tootsie rolls, it had butterscotch drops, well, you name it, it was in that mixture on the table.  He told us to grab a handful and put them in the bags he gave us.  We started to work putting a handful in each bag but my curiosity got the best of me. “What are we doing here? Why are we doing this.”  Kay seemed to get mad at me and I couldn’t understand why I was working as hard as I could. I just had no idea. They didn't tell me why we were here, the man didn’t tell me why I was here.  Millie stepped in and said “give him a chance, he doesn't know why we're here, we didn’t tell him what we're doing or why we're doing it”.  Margaret, who seemed to have known the man and done this before explained that this was part of the Good Fellows organization in Memphis and that we were filling these bags that were going to be part of the Christmas for children that would otherwise not have any. 

Well, at that point, I thought I was only working as hard as I could before, but now I was trying to break my neck to get as many bags as I could filled before we had to go. I think we did this for the next two weekends or maybe it was just the next weekend. I don't really remember. I know we did it more than once and they asked us if we could come help on the day they gave out the presents to the kids. Everyone agreed. I had a previous engagement but as soon as it was over

I would come help. I arrived there late that day. The kids were coming out and I rushed in to see what I could do to help. The Ellis auditorium looked as if a tornado had hit it. I found the man who had shown us what to do with the candy and I asked him “what can I do to help now” being a little let down that I hadn't been there to help. He seemed happy that I had asked him and he eagerly said “if you don't mind, we could use help cleaning up
”, so I set to the task of picking up all the paper, stacking the chairs, folding the tables and sweeping the floors.  Unfortunately in the years after that, Kay and I had broken up and I had lost track of Margaret and I had no clue who to talk to about helping and I really would have liked to.  I hope they had plenty of help all these years for it was really great to think that something I had done had helped to put a smile on an innocent face.

Let me just take a second to tell you, it's amazing how all these memories are coming back to me now.  I haven't thought about that in years. I don't know if any of you remember helping out with something in Memphis like that. Also, my memory may not be exactly right, it may have been either Kay or Millie and not Margaret that knew the man with the candy for the kids but I've told it as best I could.

It is not just a memory it is about the effort that four teenage kids put forth for kids they didn't even know. I wonder if the high school systems should post the help wanted lists for these organizations to get the volunteer help they need. 

If you remember anytime that you did something like this, please share it with us and if anyone knows Kay, Millie or Margaret, let them know that I was thinking about them.

!"Thank You to all those Men Women that give their time and money for others"!