It must be something in the water

So, I don't think any of you know about our school's relief efforts in Jamaica. We did a fundraiser shortly after Hurricane Ivan in an attempt to aide those in Jamaica. We collected money from people at school and decided to use the money to buy chlorine water purification tablets. So, we had all the money and all that was left to do was to purchase the tablets. Finding these tablets has been a nightmare. I was supposed to do it, and then I couldn't find them, so the PHSA president at the time was supposed to do it. Well, she didn't do it and didn't do it, and finally Richard got sick of the money sitting there, so I took the responsibility back again. The guy who's supposed to take the tablets to Jamaica is leaving Friday, so it quickly became a matter of some importance. I called this number off the internet 2 weeks ago in an attempt to track someone down who had a supply of these tablets. You can get iodine tablets at camping supply places, but they only purify about 5 gallons per box, and they shouldnt be used on people with thyroid problems. We didn't want to risk getting someone with an undiagnosed thyroid problem sick, so getting chlorine tablets was really important.

Today, the internet man finally called me back out of the blue. I personally think it was somewhat of a divine intervention because I was planning on going to Academy tonight and just buying the stupid iodine tablets because it would be easier and we could be done with the whole thing. Anyway, the guy calls from Des Moines, Iowa and he is soooo nice. He was asking what we were trying to get the tablets for and I told him it was for relief efforts in Jamaica. He was telling me all this really cool stuff about how you could use Clorox in much the same way and he told me exactly how to do it- if we ever have an emergency where our water supply is compromised, call me. I know exactly what to do. I even wrote it down :) He tells me all about this for about 15 minutes...and I was really getting kind of tired of it. He was super-nice but I didn't need that much information at the moment...I just needed to know where I could get some tablets. He gives me a contact number for someone else, and we hang up.

5 minutes later my phone rings again and it's his number. I didn't want to answer because I was le tired of talking about water. But I did. And I'm so glad I did. He was calling to tell me that he would just mail me those tablets for free because it was for a good cause and because he was really proud of kids like me trying to make a difference. He is sending 8 boxes of tablets....enough to purify 800 gallons of water...for free. He was the nicest man I have ever had the pleasure of speaking with. Yay Gary from Des Moines, Iowa. My Dad is from Iowa. It must be something in the water up there :) Because of the wonderful Gary, we were able to take the money we were going to spend on tablets and put it toward socks and blankets for the drive we're doing for the Salvation Army. It's a nice feeling :)