Leave the gun take the cannoli (9)

As the days grow shorter and darker, its wise to  live by Murphy’s Law.  Children of the City’s annual toy drive made a wrong turn onto an obstacle course last Monday when   scheduling problems caused a benefactor to  push back the delivery date on  a pledge for 300 toys.

Daniel Ramos had expended a considerable amount of energy   orchestrating every aspect of the drive from securing donations to  organizing a series of  gift sorting and wrapping events  starting on Wednesday.      The bulk of the toys were expected on Thursday.  Friday was set aside for a dozen  volunteers from NYCares  and Board Members who were also contributing toys.     Calculating the correct ratio of toys to volunteers, Daniel had everything planned  so that every volunteer would remain busy and engaged for each event.                

Grey skies and storm clouds caused further delays on Thursday, as a stormy mix of  snow, sleet and rain hit the tri-state area.  Less than half  of the projected deliveries made it to our headquaters that night.   Surprisingly, only a few volunteers bailed out of this project.   Since most of them lived just a few subway stops away, 60 willing wrappers from  Volunteer NYC,  Old Navy, and assorted high school students patiently waited  alongside  NYCares members Chris Peterson and Victoria Levin as the toys trickled in at a snails pace.  Suddenly, it dawned on Daniel and I that we had more wrappers  than presents to wrap. 

   We tried to stall by feeding the troops a buffet of buffalo wings, salad and chips.  We told our favorite anecdotes about making home visits.   Things were looking bleak until Board Member Rocco Basile   opened the door and asked “can I get a little help taking something out my car?”     When I started for the door, Rocco smiled and said “guys, I think she’s gonna need a little help here.”  

  The Baisle family car out classed Santa’s sleigh with a dozen  Razor scooters and popular toys  purchased by Rocco’s extremely  generous friends, relatives and business associates.       The volunteers marveled as they  wrapped  Hannah Montana, Barbie  and Bratz dolls.                 

 Rocco’s  impeccable timing and dedication to Children of the City  never cease to amaze me.  

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 16th, 2007 at 5:32 pm and is filed under Children's Charities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.