I'm pleased to report it DID fit in my car, just! (I'm good at Tetris with practise from my day job!) So it's the night before the big event and each year, the run up and the night before is a strange one. I'm never sure how I feel to be honest. Exhausted already? Excited for the start? Anticipating of what's going to happen? Happy that we're enabling people to give and be nice? Overwhelmed with the logistics of the day? Ecstatic I'm part of this?
Jo and I, eat, sleep, breathe and live the Rucksack Project from the minute we launch it. (And this year the Bus also, for the last 10 months!) We speak on the phone, text, email, catch up all the time, if not daily. We give up valuable time, energy and resources, its all we talk about and all we concentrate on (our husbands, families and friends will attest to this!)
Running up to the Project, we're both social media mad, have our faces buried in screens and are very anti social (big apologies to husbands). But the week before, for me at least, the doubt starts tipping in... What if no one turns up? What if everyone's offended because we've said no clothes? What if everyone's bored of the project? What if no one cares any more? What if I've told Jo 'it'll be fine' one too many times and it won't?
And then it starts... the pictures, the posts, the comments, the offers of help, the community pulling together... and I for one, am once again overwhelmed. What a community, what a city, what kindness. Portsmouth - you always do us proud!
Our city, our community, our football team; all pitch in, all get involved and all pull together once again. All for one reason - to keep our valued hard working, homeless services available for the winter and longer hopefully. To enable life to be a little kinder to those on the streets. Those with low or no incomes. Those who have fallen on hard times. Those who have made tough, difficult and sometimes not very positive life choices. Those who have had to flee their home for safety. Those who are supported by our amazing city churches, charities etc; who are empowering homeless men and women, to engage with a range of different services and to enable them to make better life choices and move on from the streets.
The collections at work, the home knitted hats, the one extra tin someone has bought when they could afford it that one week, the rucksacks made by our children, the donations rifled from charity shops, the collections our neighbours have whipped round. AMAZING. Just WOW!
So thank you Portsmouth (and surrounding areas) for once again reducing me to tears, for moving me more than you could ever imagine. Thank you for being non political, non religious, non judgemental and thank you for sharing and just being nice.
So it's time to roll our sleeves up, stick to our plan of action and have the busiest day ever tomorrow. The charities are on the list with the amounts they've pledged to take - all will be ticked off and monitored in and out. Volunteers ready and running our donation stations. Charities and services around to chat to people, if people want to about what they do and how they help. Tea and coffee donated and ready for everyone to stop and have a drink. Amazing amounts of donations in and out and then to collapse with a large G&T all round when we're packed up and it's all over for another year.
In short I am so excited to get there, humbled to be part of this, ecstatic that the community is so special and my heart is truly filled with love and kindness. See you on the other side!
Jo - 'it'll be fine, I promise.'
TTFN, Sammy 💙
As always Sammy and Jo so very well done and thank you for enabling us to find a way to help and to be a part of your brilliant effort. Very best of luck for tomorrow.
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