Dear St. Gary,
You are truly a wonderful guy!
By the way, please fillet the fish, pack in dry ice and ship them to me.
I'll fry them myself.
I'm too busy to go fishing.
Thanks in advance,
DonM

Don,

I just sent the Old Bay Seafood Seasoning to Hank a few days ago. If you're nice to him, he may let you have a little. Kinda's difficult to ship the fillets this time of year--I'll have to work on that one and let you know what I can come up with.

Gary

I still have some Old Bay from the last bunch you sent!
DonM

Gary, not only have you inspired me to play great music and loose weight (i've lost 18 lbs since January), you now inspire me to show kindness and give back to the community the success and good fortune that has been bestowed upon me.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, your my hero.

How about some ideas of something I can do that would show my kindness. The first thing that comes to mind is to donate some old music equipment and computer hardware to my local FreeCycle board. If your not familiar with these boards on Yahoo, they are essentially bulletin boards where people donate items and people ask for items. It's a small gesture, but until I find something as profound as Gary's, it's a start.

Thanks Gary, for your inspiration!!!!

Al

Al,

Good gesture, and if the site is free of scam artists who would take your donations and sell them, it sounds like a worthy cause.

Here's another idea if you have about a half a day of free time each week. About 4 years ago, while playing for a group at a Baltimore City Senior Center, it became evident that many of those folks, some in their 90s and in poor health, had to make a decission every week whether to buy food or medicine. Many had incomes of less than $500 USD monthly, of which most was consumed by the bare necessities of life. Keep in mind these are hard-working people that raised families, put their children through college, paid their taxes and never turned their backs on anyone in need. Now, in the final years of their lives, they've been abandonded by their children, ignored by society, taxed into poverty and left to fend for themselves on a constantly dwindling income in a land of plenty.

I returned home and thought about something I discovered while working at BJ's Wholesale Club a few years earlier. Every day of the week, most grocery stores throw out enormous quantities of food that go out of date. While most of the food tossed in the garbage is still fresh, wholesome food, it still gets tossed because it has passed its Sell-By Date. I talked with the store's management and looked into a way that would benefit both the store and those low-income folks at the senior centers where I performed. If the store donates this food instead of tossing it in the trash, they can use this as a charitable donation for tax purposes. The trick to making this tax deductable was to have them donate the goods the day before the Sell-By Date, which they said was not a problem. Now, and for the past 4 years, every Thursday morning is spent picking up $500 to $1,000 in baked goods from BJ's Wholesale Club and delivering it to area senior centers. The staff at the senior centers repacks the goods in zip-loc bags and distributes it to their membership. My only cost is a half days time and a few gallons of gasoline.

Gary

DonM addressed you as a saint a few posts back. How right he is. The world needs more people like you.

St. GARY.....now that has a ring to it....I
knew that there was a reason he sits on the right hand side of Pope Benidicto....Keep up the great work Gary...you do inspire to bring out the good...some people are just born leaders, You Be One Of Them..Thank You..
Tony Rome