On Christmas Eve, I snapped a shot of this old house, built in 1921. It's on the corner of Swiss Ave. and Peak St. It's one of my favorites in Dallas (I looked it up on DCAD, and it's got seven fireplaces!)A couple of people deserve thanks this morning for making Christmas better for dozens of people living on the street. A friend of mine and I met up this morning to buy donuts and coffee and distribute them to anyone who wanted them, across from Parkland Hospital. The only Donut shop we could find open was Pulaski's Donuts at 3012 Inwood Rd., and so we bought them out of Starbucks coffee and pigs-in-blankets and glazed donuts. When the owner, Joung Suk Yun, who must have brewed a dozen pots of coffee for us one right after the other, found out we were going to take our coffee and goodies to the homeless, he donated all the donut holes he had baked fresh that morning, and threw in some cinnamon rolls.
We met a lot of gentle people who were down on their luck, including a guy named Tony and his wife, who lost custody of their children because they were out of work and living on the streets. Tony was beside himself with joy that he'd just been hired as a machinist. He starts his new job on Monday, and is hopeful that he'll be able to get his kids back. He just kept saying how blessed he was. A guy living on the streets who sees how blessed he is. Now, that's inspiring.
I'll be remembering Tony and his wife next time I get frustrated when things don't go my way.
Then, we met Sal Garza, who drove up in his truck and started handing out plain white envelopes with $20 bills inside. Sal owns United Auto on Harry Hines, which he described as a title and loan company. He'd just been downtown, too, handing out dozens of envelopes filled with cash. He said he got mobbed there, and hoped it would be more orderly this time. Mostly it was. People were confused about the envelopes at first, taking them and saying thanks, but not sure what was inside. They'd walk across the street and sit down near a wall or bench, and you could hear excited yelps when they opened them up. Most came back to shake Sal's hand.
Sal told us he distributes money regularly, not just on Christmas, to the homeless. Sal, I suspect, is a loan shark. These are probably boom times for a title and loan company like his, and he's got plenty of money to go around. He gave us his card and suggested we team up next time he makes his rounds with the envelopes. I think I'll take him up on that.
Merry Christmas everyone, and be of good cheer.