Kathi Miller Benefit (10-16-2010)

So, as many of you know (from my incessant e-mails, posts, radio spots, TV spots, etc….) that I took on a benefit to help a nurse that used to work for me. Remember guys, I have NEVER done a benefit or anything like this before…I was flying by the seat of my pants baby!!

 I wanted to let you know the results in detail of what took place from the benefit and then after the benefit where a life was LITERALLY changed as a result. I think it’s only fair that those of you who helped know the full extent of the impact you have made in the life of another person. Rarely do we get the opportunity to know directly what our efforts to help are.

So that you know, we had a goal of 10,000.00 to raise. We raised 10,156.00 at the last count. With the donations of food and services, we probably raised closer to about 15,500.00 (or more) for Kathi. WOW!! You guys know her story, and you know my efforts, so now I want you to know the results… This might be lengthy as I am long winded when I am passionate!

On Thursday, a couple of days before the benefit, I had two very close friends of mine come all the way from Houston (Felipe and Nathan) from the “Smokin’ Loco-Motives” BBQ team (hope I spelled that right) to cook all the briskets for the benefit.

Friday morning, we got up, loaded up, went down to the Freedom Hall, got ourselves situated and started cooking. Felipe (Big Poppa) and Nate (Nate-dog) set up the site and started cooking. I was in full neurotic mode and was running around tying up all the loose ends. I got done about 7:00pm and then was able to hang out with my buddies and just chill, listen to music, and talk about deep discussions and not so deep discussions…Man, I needed that! Thanks guys… I sincerely love you guys with all my heart!

About 3:00am, Nate and I broke out some cots donated by the Red Cross (Thanks Kristi) and tried to get a few hours of sleep. Felipe stayed up and cooked and got maybe an hours worth of sleep that night as he tried to sleep in his truck WITHOUT the engine running and froze himself half to death… WTH was he thinking (love ya man!! ;) ). Once we were up, Donna went and got us some breakfast tacos and we got some coffee, and we were back at it.

At about 11:00am, people started to show up to help, and even a few to eat…at 12:01, we started serving!! People started to flock in!! We had some of the fraternity guys from Schreiner University (www.schreiner.edu) out on the street with signs to promote what we were doing and baby, it was rolling on along!!

I was staying VERY busy managing details and issues around people not keeping their word that didn’t come through to help as they promised, but there was no reason to get distressed… It was on now, there was nothing I could do, so lets make the best of it!

One of the people who couldn’t keep their word was the person who stated they would provide the bounce houses for the function, they didn’t show…So now I did have to find a way to manage the children, as we promised this would be a kid friendly event. A friend of mine named Amanda stepped up and said she would handle all the kids… She jumped in her car, went and got chalk, toys, face paints, and other kid friendly stuff and managed the children for me ALL DAY!! I just don’t think I could give Amanda a big enough hug for her part in all of this!! Girl, I am eternally grateful!!

The food was rolling along real well, we had Bill Young and his lovely wife who found out about this on a fishing and hunting site (http://www.2coolfishing.com/) and came up with 5 briskets, a large monetary donation and she made BY FAR, the best banana pudding I have ever had…Even put it in small plastic cups with cellophane for single serving portions. They monitored the dessert table for me and they came all the way from New Mexico (via Austin) to be at the event and help out… Man, makes my heart swell to know the kindness of others! Thanks you two…you made a HUGE difference!!

At about 1:00pm, the band showed up, Groove Daddy (http://www.groovedaddyaustin.com/) they volunteered for an hour to play music for the event and they were GREAT… They singer had a wonderful voice and they came all the way from Austin to do an hour show for the benefit…WOW!! This was all set up by Angela Eakins who was my team mate when I worked at the facility with Kathi. Angela, much love sent to you girl…Thanks for holding to your word, despite all the CRAP that took place… You are a wonderful person!! I GET THAT!! I hope you do too! ;)

We had people who Kathi cared for that showed up…Some who were barely able to walk, some in wheelchairs, some who were family or friends of residents that Kathi cared for who had passed away… What a truly inspirational thing to see Kathi GET BACK what she so unselfishly has given all these years…LOVE and CARING!!

Kathi was a real trooper, she came out to the event and other than about 45 minutes to go and take care of her medical needs, Kathi was there to meet and thank every single person who came through that serving line… And guys, one person gave her a 500.00 check for one plate!!

Because of the outreach to the press and the radio, and the TV, we had folks just show up because they care…A TRUE representation of this wonderful community that Donna and I have chosen to call home! Oh yeah, and the Frat Guys did their part bringing in folks “out of the know” as well!! Thanks guys!!

We had a pretty steady flow and we fed a lot of people. The briskets came out sooooo tender, that we couldn’t even slice the pieces thin because they would have fell apart. RANE roofing (http://www.raneroofing.com/) made about 180lbs of beans for the event and everyone LOVED the food!! The only complaint Felipe and Nathan had was they wished they had that kind of perfection at their cook-offs for competition… No accidents…Perfection comes to those who pursue excellence. Adding your HEART to anything you do, makes the reward just that much sweeter…The briskets were direct proof of that!

At 3:30, we ran out of food… Not what we expected, but we are pretty sure we served a little over 300-350 plates. We had folks coming in and buying 7 plates at a time, 9 plates at a time, word got out to some businesses of how great the food was and people were taking their lunch breaks to come get a plate…It was TRULY an amazing experience!! We continued to have folks show up to buy plates, even until after 4:00pm…I hated to tell them we didn’t have it to serve, but I was so happy we served it all!! WOW man, just WOOOOWWW!!

At 3:30pm we closed the silent auction and although we didn’t get a lot of really good bids of the items, we still got some. All of the items were bid on and some folks made some GREAT deals on the items sold…GREAT DEALS!! We did a little 50/50 drawing and the number that was pulled was the girl Amanda’s (who took on the kids portion of the event) son. Now get this guys…he is probably 4-5 years old…I pulled his number, he walked up to me, gave me his ticket and said “I want to give my part to Kathi”… Way to go Amanda!! Says a lot about the parents…You are truly a special lady man!!

I remembered that I had two Browns Drive-In gift certificates in my pocket, and I gave him both those tickets for his kindness. What a noble thing for such a young child to do…Really pulls at my heart!!

At 4:05pm, we counted the money… three of us took portions of the money and counted it, when we were done, with the money that was already in the bank, we had 10,126.00 that was raised. When I realized the count, I was totally out of my mind!! I was like some fanatic NFL football fan that was sitting in the end-zone with 3 seconds to spare and the quarterback of my team rolled through the lineman and touched the ball ½ of an inch over the line… HOLY CRAP MAN… Makes my stomach turn in knots as I type it!! I was bouncing off the walls….crying tears of joy, laughing, screaming… I even had the bar patrons coming from the bar to see what was going on!

Shortly there after, a lady walked up to buy a plate, we said we were out, and she handed Kathi another 30.00….10,156.00!! WOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOO!!

So we closed down shop, cleaned up, went home with my “cookin’ Bruthas from otha mutha’s”, Donna, me, Brandi and the boys  and just relaxed and reflected on the day with tears of joy, giggles of the drama that took place throughout the day, reflections and sharing of each others experiences….Whew…. I was totally and completely exhausted!!

I did have some help, but I knew the whole time, if it is to be, it is up to me and I was a maniac on a mission! I am of the belief that there is NOTHING…NOTHING more important than your word! There is no greater feeling than accomplishment!

What an experience…what a wonderful, touching, impacting, joyous, overwhelming, lifting, energizing/tiresome experience… there are NO WORDS to express what the real emotions were that I was feeling. I wish I could stretch my arms out to each and every person that helped and give them a hug… I really wish I could!!

So, lets get to the REALLY good stuff!!

On Monday, I went to see Kathi and take her to the bank to get her the money we had raised. As I walked into her house, she said “OK, lets go to the bank and get a check for “this” and a check for “that” and a check….. I stopped her right there… I said..

“What?? No firckin way man!! Lets go pay this S**T with CASH baby!!” She jumped up, smiled, giggled and said “lets go!!”

So, we drove up to the school district and walked into the tax office. The lady there was very sweet and has been someone who has helped Kathi as much as she could. Kathi walked in, warmly greeted her with a hug, and said…

“I am here to pay my taxes” The lady said …“Ok, how much?” Kathi responded “all of them!” Stunned, the lady said “all of them, are you sure?” and I responded with “You do take cash right?”

The lady printed up the bill, and we paid 2-3 years of back taxes and her taxes up until next year with 1’s, 5’s, 10’s, and 20’s… It was frickin amazing!! Kathi and I literally DANCED out to the jeep to go to our next stop. (Oh yeah, and this was Kathis first time EVER being in a jeep)

We went to Wells Fargo, walked up to the desk, and told them we had some checks to cash from the benefit… We cashed them all, took the cash, and went directly to the County Clerks Office, walked up to her desk and Kathi said…

“ I am here to pay my back taxes on my house” the lady responded, “How much?” Kathi said “All of it!!” and I responded again, “You do still take cash right?” She nodded, printed out the bill, and handed it to us.

We took the cash (and the amount is unimportant…just know it was 2-3 years of back taxes and also the taxes until next year) and laid it out all the way across the County Clerks desk…her desk was COVERED in cash!! I wish I would have taken a picture!!

We paid all her taxes up and now, her home is safe from foreclosure and she is paid in full until next year!! WOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

We left the courthouse, walked (DANCING really) over to National Car Sales, went in and found out what it would take to pay her car note up for a year. We had spent all the cash, but I had a check from the account, and I wrote out the amount for the payments for a year, PLUS the service charges, PLUS the charges she had put on credit for some repairs.

Because there are no accidents, the insurance company for her vehicle made a “mistake” and we found out that her insurance was paid up for the next TWO YEARS. Kathi took another portion of the money and paid her utilities up for the remainder of the year, and then we went back to the bank!!

We met with the person who helped me set up this account, sat down with her, told her I wanted to keep the account open for another week or so for any people who might still want to contribute, and left the amount of the check I wrote in the account, figured out the difference, and got a cashiers check for the amount left, gave Kathi a hug and handed her the balance. She went and cashed that check, and will use the rest to live on, pay for her medications and incidentals.

As we walked out of the bank, Kathi said to me….

“Brad, I feel like the laws of gravity don’t apply to me right now”

And I responded….

“Kathi, they don’t!! FLY BABY!!! FLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

What a truly wonderful and inspirational day!!!

I want to add to this, because I think its important…there was a HUGE lesson in all of this for me and before I close this, I want you to all be aware…

Even in your darkest hour, when the world seems to be closing in on you, there is always a lesson and there are NO ACCIDENTS in this world.

I, as a result of unforeseen circumstances and many hurtful allegations, resigned from my position at the facility I was working (and absolutely loved the work I was doing there). I was wounded, I was scarred and I was very emotional over the whole thing and how it unfolded. It’s amazing to me how hurtful people can be sometimes when trying to save themselves. But I always remember that who we are in are darkest hour, and who we declare to be in the world at that time makes a bold statement of who we truly are.

I was in a very dark place and I have always known that when getting in those places, being in service to someone will always lift you out of the sludge, muck, and ugliness and back into your greatness.

I want to thank Kathi, those who supported me in this mission and those who believed in me. Not only did you change and impact Kathi’s life FOREVER, and created a time in her life she will NEVER forget, you have all done the same in my life.

I am truly humbled by this experience, and I bow my head in gratitude and grace for the kindness that you allowed me to be a part of in this world. For those of you that ask ”why would you do something like this?” as I reflect back with tears in my eyes, my heart swelled almost to the point of blasting out of my chest, my spirit filled with joy beyond what words can describe, I hope that you now understand… Giving, is getting!!

Bless you all!! Thanks for taking the time to read this and enjoy this experience with me. I am HONORED to share the space I have been able to share with all of you…Truly!!

Peace…. Brad(4)

"Everything has beauty,

but not everyone sees it"

~Confucius~