rapid rewards

I am a huge fan of stores and programs that offer reward cards. From flights to food, you can find every card imaginable in my wallet. Even though I'm most likely only saving around thirty cents, there is some kind of satisfaction that comes with scanning that card and seeing how much you save. It's the little things, people.

But nothing, I mean nothing was a rewarding as what I was able to participate in this past Saturday.

As the Music City rebuilds after the literal disaster that was last weekend, all sorts of volunteer opportunities became available.

My friend and I, along with a bus full of 48 others, ventured out to Bellevue for the day. Not only is Bellevue a 10-minute drive from where I grew up, it is also one of the areas that was totally and completely destroyed by the flood waters off the near by Harpeth River.

As we pulled up to the cul-da-sac of condominiums where we would be working, the atmosphere on the bus went form upbeat and chatty to complete silence. My heart literally fell to my stomach.

There is no way I can write or speak of what my eyes saw. There is no news story, Facebook album or You Tube video that can give you the image of a neighborhood where each resident literally lost everything. The manicured entrance to the neighborhood now gave way refrigerators stacked on mattresses stacked couches; cookbooks and pots and pans were strewn throughout piles of bedding and clothing. I took no pictures as to respect the emotions of the victims; but, it was, in a word, heartbreaking.

I shook the emotions of and put the work gloves on. We spent the day at a lady's condo. I assumed that she lived alone, and was probably around 60 years old. The only thing left of her home was the wooden frame work, save for a few untouched light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. We knocked out her drywall...some of which was so soaked with water, it crumbled in our bare hands. We swept glass from her back door that shattered from water pressure. Finally, we helped a contractor pull duct work from underneath the condo units...at times, it took up to four of us to carry the saturated insulation to be hauled away. We were covered in filthy, muddy flood water.

And yet in the midst of having total strangers completely demolish her home, I couldn't help but be totally in awe of this lady's spirit. She was so sweet, soft-spoken and grateful when she had every right to be removed, devastated and broken. Her whole life was laying in a huge pile up the hill, waiting to be carried away to a landfill. And yet she always had a smile on her face.

I went in to this whole experience wanting to give what little I could to help those in need. Yet, selfishly, I left the one who was the most rewarded. I was rewarded by the kindness of complete strangers in my work group who drove four hours to Nashville to volunteer. I was rewarded by the can-do attitude of neighbors helping neighbors, dropping off sack lunches for volunteers and clean clothing for those without. And I was rewarded by the resilience of the victims we served, whose attitude never reflected the devastation they have been through in the past seven days.

The road to recovery is and will be a long one; my heart is still hurting from what happened to my city. But the sense of pride and community bestowed by this town will take us far.

P.S. The night before, we received an email from the head organization asking volunteers to wear any sort of red t-shirt. I have approximately 373 t-shirts, and not one red one. So I was known as awkward girl in the gray shirt. It made for a fun game of Where's Waldo. Fitting?!?