On the plus side, we raised $1122 from the generous passersby at the interesate off/on ramp in Wildwood, GA.
I almost choke up thinking about it because in all honesty, as a trucker who is confronted by panhandlers and grifters 3 or 4 times EVERY day I am on the road, my reaction over the years is to simply tune out beggars and charities. I rationalize that I participate in several non-profit volunteer organizations into which I donate plenty of my time and hundreds of my dollars.
But to stop and think about the individuals who rounded a curve today and were met by two fire trucks on either side of the road, a blue haired clown waving large hamburger helper style hands at the occupants, and two guys in firehouse t-shirts wiggling a fire boot at them (shakeshakeshake, shake you booooooty!).
People traveling north 400 miles out of Flordia, people traveling east, 600 miles out of Texas, and more Dade County Georgia tags than I thought existed in Dade County Georgia. People probably headed to a quick lunch and fuel, at $3.50 a gallon, in today's economy, after having dressed their kids for proms and graduations this month, bought nice dinners or flowers for Mom, and recounted the budget to figure their summer vacation alotment. And these people, many who had NO clue we were a volunteer fire department that services accidents on the interstate and events, injuries, and illnesses at the 3 truck stops, people who had no idea who these two men and a clown were, and they repeatedly opened purses and wallets, emptied change cups, a TRUCKER from Nebraska set his brake and disappeared into his bunk and came out with plastic bags filled with his $10 of toll change. Not one buck. But all the ones in the wallet. Not just ones, but fives. Not just A five, one man, in a jalopy of a pickup, dressed as a dirtpoor local, put a five in my boot, considered giving me another, then said "wait, I'll give this one to the ugly guy up there" and he moved forward to give us another 5spot.
12 tens, and another 6 people gave $20 donations.
I was abso-frigging-letely shocked by the support we recieved hour after hour, from neighbors, strangers, and the men in the 18 wheelers slowing down enough while hard at work to drop bucks into a boot for a fire house that has little connection to their world.
And the funny thing is, the clown closed the deal. Had we not had a member who felt strongly about the costume, we would not have found out just how effective it was - people first probably thought there was an accident, but even after figuring it out, had there just been us tilting our boots and waving, with no signs to spell out for them that we were fund-raising, they likely would have cautiously driven past. But the clown? How can you not smile when a goofy clown is pointing at you, dancing the butterchurn, doing the moonwalk, waving to the kiddies, frightening the dogs, and generally doing some really bad mime material? Once they saw BoBo (as I called him) they knew instantly this was not an accident, and knew instantly what we were doing with the boots. People made u-turns, they promised to, and did, return after fueling, and I even noticed a couple of locals using the exit several times during the day, contribute again.
Of course we tried to flirt with the ladies in our 15 seconds of contacts, we admired the men's motorcycles and off road vehicles, Bo-Bo boinked the teenagers (one big puffy finger onto the nose) to get them to laugh, and we listened to the blast of big rig air horns all day long.
$1122.85. That's probably 1 donation every minute for 7 hours.
Wow, thanks to them, and here's to hoping you take a minute to give a buck (or twenty!) next time you pass a local firehouse/rescue squad passing the boot at an intersection.bb.
