On Saturday, February 2, 2008, 2 vehicles stuffed full of Tide and Downy sheets headed south to make a delivery to Target House in Memphis, TN. The church had been collecting Tide and Downy for several months. Our goal was to deliver 104 boxes of each (so each room at Target House would get a Tide and a Downy) and Praise God we delivered 104 boxes!
Target House is a facility for patients and their families that are considered long-term at St. Jude’s. Each room is set up like an apartment therefore each family must provide for their own needs. Patients get to stay at this “Home Away for Home” with their families as long as their health permits. The hospital is about 6-8 blocks away. It is a beautiful facility with playrooms, a music room (donated by Amy Grant), a library (donated by Tiger Woods), an art room and an outside play area with a pavilion. Many stars are active with helping Target House, Ronald McDonald House and St. Jude’s. This can be seen at Target House by the artwork that movie stars and athletic stars have drawn to relay their sentiments toward the patients and their families. All the artwork has an elephant in it. This is significant in the fact that elephants have long memories. We all need to remember the families and the workers that are in this environment day in and day out.
After our tour of Target House we headed over to St. Jude’s. Bubba and Jessica showed myself, Joe and Luke around. We visited the different floors and met a few nurses. Each floor has a different theme with paintings all down the hallways. Michael, nurse supervisor, gave us a tour of the new wing that will be opening soon. As the rest of the hospital, it was beautiful. We ended our day by visiting the St. Jude’s gift shop.
Three moments stand out in my mind from that day. Bubba and Angie were at St. Jude’s for 19 months with their son David. When we first arrived at St. Jude’s we found the stone that was placed in the sidewalk in memory of David. Even though I never met David, I was very excited about finding his stone. Jessica took pictures of it for Angie. That was memory number one.
Second memory was reading the St. Jude’s ABCs. On the main floor there is a listing of the alphabet and under each letter patients are allowed to write what that letter stands for. As we read them, tears trickled. The pain and the heartache of the patients become very evident when the letter V stands for vomit and the description of how sick the chemo makes them. Each letter was very profound and touching.
The third memory was a picture of David. As I mentioned earlier each floor is painted with a theme. On one floor there is a painting of David lying in his bed watching TV. It was very moving and once again brought everything into focus as you realize all these children have lives and families and activities and everything all of a sudden comes to a stop when they hear their diagnosis. Yesterday it was Bubba and Angie and David, today it is someone else and tomorrow it could be you and your loved ones.
Let us be diligent in our prayers for those that are suffering and whenever we have the opportunity to help, let us also be obedient to whatever God sets in a path to do.
God Bless.
Kathy Sparks
