Months ago my friends parents came home from their mission in the Marshall Islands to attend their sons funeral. A difficult trip for them to make, for sure!
Before heading home a friend of ours learned that there was a need among the men in the Marshall Islands. She sent out word and the gathering began.
The men in the Marshall Islands run short on white shirts & ties. However, the ones that have them, totally treasure them! My friends Mom told me that they will actually put them in a backpack and carry them with them everywhere they go.
Friends & friends of friends set bags out on their porches for pick up or ran them to the closest drop off point. I sent out word to friends in our town and the response was AWESOME! I also called Mr. Mac, a store in the mall, to see if they were interested in participating. I am telling you I stood in that store and cried when I saw just how much they wanted to participate. Dozens of $50 beautiful ties! I was so excited for the men in the Marshall Islands!
In all we ended up with over 100 shirts and even more ties! They were boxed up and sent back to the Islands with the Mills'. A few weeks later I got an email from Sister Mills with these pictures attached.
This is one of the ties from Mr. Mac. Annette LOVED this picture! She said that the look on his face describes perfectly the feelings of all of the men as they received their gifts from Utah. They were amazed at the beautiful patterns & the silk in the ties. 
Brother & Sister Mills with a few of the men that received new ties & shirts.
While we were gathering shirts & ties Mallory got into the whole idea. She wanted to know if she could send something of hers. She picked a few dresses out of her closet and she was thrilled when she got to see these pictures!
The girls absolutely LOVED the dresses!
(The date on the photo was not the date it was actually taken)
This whole experience was amazing! I am so glad that my friend decided to do this! The generosity of people so willing to give was amazing! Shirts & ties or money to buy shirts & ties.....it was all so awesome! I think that the lesson of being grateful for the little things in our lives is perfectly taught by the Marshalese. They don't have a lot, but they are happy and SO grateful for the things they do have! What a great lesson!
1 comment:
I love Frank and Annette I didn't know about the project but when I got the email I was so excited I can only imagine what you were feeling like to participate! I don't know if I have commented before So I better introduce my self I am JaNean Bezzant (nelson) Cousin she told me to read your blog and I have followed ever since!
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