Notes from Tess:
This occasion is different.
There is not one reason why I would want to sugar coat anything that happen last night at the Sharon L Vanover Memorial Dinner held at the Yellowrose Theater.
The spirit of Christmas is BIGGER than any one person on this earth. The employees/volunteers focused on who Christmas is REALLY about...
Walk in the door and hear: "Good Evening, Welcome to the Yellowrose Theater. We are glad you are here." Said to every guest... every time the door opened.
Got settled as a volunteer and started scooping cranberry sauce for the 140 plates that were being made for underprivileged kids and their families.
Time to open the doors and seat tables. Each family takes a picture with Santa Clause and every table is sat by a hostess that carries the guests bags and coats to their seats.
Every table has a waitress that takes the orders for drinks and gets everything the guests ask for.. knowing they are not gonna get a tip or get paid.. they will get a "Thank You" at best.
Back in the kitchen, everyone knows their role. Like this was the 1,000th time they had all done this.
The plates are being assembled by cooks, expo hands out plates, bussers clean tables and the dishwasher is washing and putting things away.
I find out later that the exop, dishwasher and most wait staff are all in the show. They take off their aprons, wash their hands and get on stage as if they were preforming in a play on Broadway.
The show starts and the whole room is filled with laughter and tears. All in disbelief that someone would do all this for them and ask for nothing in return.
Intermission begins and more plates flood the kitchen, all needing to be cleaned.
Myself and an older woman clean all the plates and put them away...With a smile.
The show comes to a close and every child in the place gets 3+ presents. Announcements are being read but the joy and giggling is too loud for anyone to hear anything.
Not one time did I ever hear anyone have a bad attitude, whine or gripe about anything. Volunteers did what needed to be done. No matter where the need, there was no person that was "too good" to do anything!
I can hear one child in the background talking to the pastor dressed as Santa: "My mom told me Santa was not going to make it to our house this year but I am glad to know she was wrong."
Sharon L Vanover is beaming from heaven. Her family did her proud... and made more than one person's Christmas.
This dinner will become a volunteer tradition for me every year!
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