Read on, and if you’re a Whatcom County resident, let’s light this candle, big time!
‘My Facebook friends, We the Operators of the Whatcom Transportation Authority have a ring-side seat to a world of social hurt that has torn so many people down to struggles of personal survival. We see so many Armed Service veterans that have been left to their own devices to deal with crushing issues as a result of what the system demanded from them, and then left them to cope without assistance or resources; and they sleep under our bridges and self medicate without hope. We see so many just average people that for whom the American Dream has turned its’ back on as it has been redefined in the era of globalization and the American race to the bottom. We see families living in their cars on side streets, and they don’t look so very much different than you or I. There but for the grace of God go you or I. I see men that I have known for years; knew where they used to work — saw them ride the bus to the park on the weekend with a young family in tow, and now I see them with a back-pack between their knees on Holly Street at 7:00 in the morning. It is haunting to see it all this up close and very personal. And the weather has turned and winter is fast approaching and the misery in the rear-view mirror is about to be magnified by powers of ten.
We, the men and women of ATU Local 843 will make a gesture in response to the spirit of the holiday season and the onset of bad weather with practical assistance in it’s most basic form. We are raising a cache of warming clothes that we will deliver to the Opportunity Council for distribution. We are looking for warm clean socks, gloves, hats, coats, <<<<SLEEPING BAGS>>>>, blankets and like items, preferably not size specific. But we are just 190 folks and the need outnumbers us by powers of 10’s.
So I am throwing it out there —- we cannot accept cash, but if you feel moved to help us with this with warm socks, or a pair or gloves or whatever, you can just give it to a bus driver, and they will route it to me, and I will see it gets to where it is needed.
I look forward to a better and more prosperous America, but we all do what we can where we live. Thank you, and Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Kwanza or whatever. The need respects no boundary’s of race, creed, or gender, and we all could use all the help we can get. Mark Lowry’
It’s a lovely, heartfelt gesture; we’re in!
UrbanMonique 