With the closing down of Tinian’s first and last donation center, volunteers of all ages forced a smile on their face to pack items of all kinds.
There were books that were donated from around the world. Also clothes for newborn babies to children and adults of different sizes.
When maia had just started, my children, who were at the time 9 and 6, would run up and down the stairs to get a book to read. As soon as they were done, they would get more. Until last week they would ask me, “Mommy can you take us to maia?” You couldn’t imagine how it felt to let my children know that maia’s free books and donation center is closed permanently. Students of different ages would walk after school to her apartment to read, use her computer for projects, or to relax in her cool and quiet apartment.
After many of the donations were packed, some of these children took part in doing something good, volunteered to go house to house to give books and toys to the people and children of Tinian. Included were maias’ special going away gift of a brand new coloring book and crayons. With tears in her eyes she handed the box to me and asked to give them to the children as an early Christmas present, since she wouldn’t be able to hold her fourth annual Christmas-Give-Away.
The feeling of giving was extraordinary. Children were running to our cars choosing their books. The smiles on their faces were beautiful, as they held their stuffed animal and gift. It really was an early Christmas. One of our volunteers handed out our little card which stated:
“Maia’s Helping Donation Center had to close, due to no official support but some of Tinian’s terrific kids have formed the Helping-Hands Youth Corps.”
This is maia’s going away gift and their first community-aid project.
Maia has been seeking help from our leaders to be able to keep this center going. Yet there has been no improvement. She has already had offers from people in the Philippines and a mayor on Guam who would like her services there. She has no place to keep the donation center open. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} We both have no power or a seat anywhere politically but we do have a HEART.
For the time being while maia begins to uproot to another country or island with tears in her eyes, the Helping Hands Youth Corps will continue to distribute all items to the rest of the people of Tinian.
