Little neighborhood gang

Last week our mail carriers were collecting food for the local food bank. They leave a couple of plastic bags in your mail box early in the week, with a note announcing the food drive, and anyone that wants to donate can fill the bags with non perishable foods to be picked up on the designated day.

It's a very worthy cause.

Food banks really struggle this time of year. Donations pour in during the holidays, but then take a nosedive in the spring. For families struggling with hunger, this is an especially difficult time. School will be out for the summer soon, which means that kids from low income families that rely on the free breakfasts and lunches provided there are at a much greater risk for going hungry. I think it's wonderful that the postal service does a food drive in May for this reason. I always fill up a couple of bags to donate and leave them, as instructed, beside the street for the mail carriers to take.

On the day of this year's pickup, Gregg was at home reading a book when he heard the doorbell ring. He answered the door to find two little neighbor girls (aged about 8 or 9) and their mom standing there. The mom explained that her daughters had been going around our neighborhood peeking into all the bags, and they had deemed ours "the best" and then....they stole it!!!!

 Gregg had to bite his lip not to laugh. The mom kept saying how embarrassed she was, and she made the girls apologize. She asked him if anything was missing from the bags (so she could replace it). He of course had no idea, since I'm the one that takes care of those types of things. He couldn't really think of anything to say to the kids, except "You shouldn't embarrass your mom!" and of course he accepted their apology and told the mom to think no more of it. He got a huge kick out of the whole thing, and so did I when he told me about it later. I decided it must have been the box of brownie mix I had included that tempted the kids.

We had forgotten the incident until last night. When I went out to check our mail, I found a package of brownie mix in the box with this note taped to it:

Dear neighbors at 1900...

It has come to my attention that my 5-year old son was a partner-in-crime in the theft of a box of brownie mix. I apologize on his behalf. While he isn't old enough to understand what the food was for, he was certainly old enough to know that he shouldn't take something that is not his.

I have bought two boxes of brownie mix. One, I am returning to you and the other we are taking to a family in need. Our family works with a homeless/hunger ministry on Saturdays. One of the families that we work with will be blessed by brownies. It is a grandmother raising 6 grandchildren on her own and with very little resources. This little girl below is one of the children.

Again, I apologize and hope this helps to rectify the situation.

The Jordan family at 1889

Turns out there was a little gang of kids complicit in the Great Brownie Heist of  '13!! Haha!

This seriously made my day!