Stories from the office...
I work for an organization called Community Emergency Service (CES). I have for over a year now. In that time, I've learned so much about life in the inner-city; the people here and what they struggle with. Its taught me a lot about loving different kinds of people, and being loved by different kinds of people than I'm used to. Its been hard at times.... often, you can't be nice to the people, or they'll take advantage of you. You need to be polite and professional, but not too giving of yourself. How can you love someone under those conditions?
Anyway, I wanted to put some stories from my work up on here, just in recognition of all the good things CES has done for the community and the people living here. Mind you, most of these stories don't involve me at all (I work primarily with the donors).
Story #1 "A Dozen Teans"
"A dozen teenage boys broke into a woman's home one day. She hid in a closet. Through a crack in the door, she watched in horror as these youngsters stabbed her son ten times and beat her husband with a claw hammer, tearing one ear nearly off.
Fearing for her own life, she waited until it was quiet before she came out of the closet. Acting quickly, she then put pressure on her son’s wounds in order to slow the bleeding. Her husband was lying on the floor. He was not breathing, and she assumed that he was dead. There was no apparent motive for the attack — just senseless, random violence while under the influence of liquor supplied by a parent of one of the boys. She ran across the street and banged on a door. It was late, and the neighbors wouldn’t answer. Finally, flagging down a car, she was able to get help in transporting her husband and her son to the hospital. While they were at the hospital that night, the gang returned to their apartment. What they hadn’t stolen, they destroyed — smashing the appliances and the furniture, slashing the couch and the beds, and pouring paint over their clothing.
Her husband did survive, but ended up losing most of his memory. He may never get it back. The son, who also survived, was slow in healing due to his juvanile diabetes. She had to take both of them to frequent physical therapy and clinic appointments. Until they got emergency assistance, they were living in their van.
Knowing that others come to CES with emergency needs, she requested only $5.00 worth of gas to enable them to get to that day's medical appointments. We were able to assist not only with gas but also food, shelter, and much, much more."
This family had a very hard road to travel. Being able to help people like this makes me proud to work here. I'll post more stories like this in the future.
Anyway, I wanted to put some stories from my work up on here, just in recognition of all the good things CES has done for the community and the people living here. Mind you, most of these stories don't involve me at all (I work primarily with the donors).
Story #1 "A Dozen Teans"
"A dozen teenage boys broke into a woman's home one day. She hid in a closet. Through a crack in the door, she watched in horror as these youngsters stabbed her son ten times and beat her husband with a claw hammer, tearing one ear nearly off.
Fearing for her own life, she waited until it was quiet before she came out of the closet. Acting quickly, she then put pressure on her son’s wounds in order to slow the bleeding. Her husband was lying on the floor. He was not breathing, and she assumed that he was dead. There was no apparent motive for the attack — just senseless, random violence while under the influence of liquor supplied by a parent of one of the boys. She ran across the street and banged on a door. It was late, and the neighbors wouldn’t answer. Finally, flagging down a car, she was able to get help in transporting her husband and her son to the hospital. While they were at the hospital that night, the gang returned to their apartment. What they hadn’t stolen, they destroyed — smashing the appliances and the furniture, slashing the couch and the beds, and pouring paint over their clothing.
Her husband did survive, but ended up losing most of his memory. He may never get it back. The son, who also survived, was slow in healing due to his juvanile diabetes. She had to take both of them to frequent physical therapy and clinic appointments. Until they got emergency assistance, they were living in their van.
Knowing that others come to CES with emergency needs, she requested only $5.00 worth of gas to enable them to get to that day's medical appointments. We were able to assist not only with gas but also food, shelter, and much, much more."
This family had a very hard road to travel. Being able to help people like this makes me proud to work here. I'll post more stories like this in the future.
posted by Laura Ibsen @ 11:55 AM
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