Tomorrow is the big day! I am sadly not going to be caught up with my blog posts by Tuesday, Day 365. At one point I thought I could do it, but I have to let that idea go.
I am still looking for people who are out of work and would be willing to do what I have been doing; giving away $10 a day and then sharing the experience. You don’t need to do it for a year, just 7 days. If you are interested, send me an email to reed@yearofgiving.org.
Day 347 was the day after Thanksgiving. I woke up that morning still sufficiently full from all the turkey and stuffing I consumed the day before. I had agreed to go to Yuengling Brewery that day with my friend Laurie whose parents live about 15 minutes away in Camp Hill. There was no specific reason to go other than I enjoy beer and used to brew my own and we had nothing to do that day.
It was no more than an hour and thirty minutes from Mechanicsburg. The last 10-15 miles of it is a very pretty drive through the winding hills of central Pennsylvania. Pottsville, where the brewery is located, is a picturesque little town that reminded me of several other towns in Pennsylvania and Ohio. I parked the car in front of the brewery and started digging for quarters in my pocket to feed the meter. Thankfully it was only twenty-five cents for each hour. In DC it costs about twenty-five cents for every seven minutes!
Filling cans of Yuengling lager beer.
As we walked up to the building bearing the name “D.G. Yuengling & Son” on it I mentioned to Laurie that one of the brewers was the uncle of a good friend of mine. I had met him once or twice and once even completely confused him with my friend’s father. In my defense they do look quite a bit alike. Anyway, it would be nice to see him again if he was there.
Just inside we were greeted by a woman who said we needed to wear a wristband. While we were waiting for the tour I asked her, “Do you know James Buehler? He’s a brewer for Yuengling.” Perplexed she looked at me and said, “Yes…he’s my husband!” I introduced myself to Cindy and explained how I knew her husband. She informed me that he had the day off. I guess there is a decent chance that I had met her before too, but neither of us seemed to remember. As we were taking the tour, we were asked to go and wait in the gift shop for them to call for us. Afterwards I thought I would look for Cindy and give her my $10 for the day but I couldn’t find her.
We then headed down the hill to Roma’s to grab something to eat. It’s a good place that looks like it once was just a small walk-in pizza joint that had expanded to having a dinning room with sit down service. I thought about giving the $10 to the waitress, but in the end decided to walk around Pottsville and find somebody.
Stacie protects Kylie from the strange man handing out money.
I saw a young woman and little girl skipping down road. It reminded me of that scene in the Wizard of Oz when Judy Garland (Dorothy), Ray Bolger (Scarecrow), Jack Haley (Tin Man), and Bert Lahr (Cowardly Lion) all go singing and skipping down the Yellow Brick Road. I stopped them and asked Stacie to accept my $10. She did.
Stacie, 19, and Kylie, 4, were heading home to Orwigsburg which apparently is not far from Pottsville. Although Kylie is her boyfriend’s daughter, Stacie seemed so natural with her. Like most small children that get close to me, Kylie shied away as I approached her. She clutched the drawing of a bear that she had colored earlier that day and ducked behind Stacie’s leg seeking protection from big scary Reed. Thankfully she didn’t start bawling, usually they do.
Stacie is taking online classes right now to get her Associate’s Degree in Childhood Development. “Someday I hope to have my own day care,” she said smiling at little Kylie. She seems to have a knack with children and will probably be great working in that field.
She told me that the $10 was going to go toward Christmas. “It’ll probably end up going for something for her,” nodding her head toward cute little Kylie.
We said goodbye and Stacie carefully loaded her precious cargo into the car-seat in the back of her SUV and they drove off. I walked up Market Street a little more and took some photographs of the town before heading back to Mechanicsburg.
The other day I got an email from Stacie.
I just wanted to e-mail you and tell you that my $10 is in fact going towards Christmas gifts for Kylie. I bought her [books] (ended up being 20 books and a pack of flashcards!) for her Tag reader (you know those electronic pens that read the words in books out loud? I got her one of those for her 4th birthday this summer and ever since then she’s loved reading.) In my mind your $10 paid for a Super Speller book for her so thank you for helping my ‘stepdaughter’ (I hope one day she legitimately is) learn and to help support her love of reading. I’m sure after this project you really understand just how important things like reading skills are. “
Year of Giving 