A Child's Haven - 10. Chapter 10

I reviewed my thoughts concerning allowances and pay for the kids who work. Tony asked before I announce anything to allow him to check the tax aspects as it may have an adverse effect on our 501c application. I agreed to wait until he told me to go ahead. “You should clear it through the Board as well.”

“I’ll do that after you give me the go-ahead.”

The next few weeks, we were very busy. Work began on the office building over the loading dock. I had a chain-link fence installed around the property and ordered two school buses with Sanctuary painted on the side. Abe hadn’t made up his mind on the building paint contest winner, and the kids were getting a little impatient.

“Abe, you need to select the winner of the painting contest. The kids are beginning to doubt my word. Is there a problem?”

“Brad, there are several that almost look alike, I’m having a problem finding enough differences to pick only one.”

“That isn’t a problem; I’ll award a prize to all of them. The prize for the lucky winners will be tickets to the musical, Lion King. All of the kids are going to go to the zoo as a participation reward. So make the selections.”

“OK, call a meeting tomorrow at noon, and I’ll be there to announce the winners.”

“Great, you ready for the Board meeting? By the way, I’m going to nominate you to the Board. Bye.” I quickly hung up as I didn’t want to hear any excuses for why he shouldn’t be on the Board.

Passing through the dining hall, I whispered into Beth’s ear that the contest winners would be announced at noon tomorrow. By the time I reached my office, I could feel the excitement. “Brad, there are two men here to see you.”

“Gentlemen, what can I do for you?”

“Well, you can sign this invoice and pay us.”

I started to laugh, “Is it ok if I see them first?”

“Sure.” I followed them out to the back, and there were two buses painted with Sanctuary on both sides.

“Gentlemen, you have done yourself proud. Now I need two more.”

Laughing, “When we realized these were for you, we painted two more. They should be here in about 30 minutes. If you checked the invoice, you would’ve seen four buses and not two.”

I looked at the invoices and noted the four buses under items; “Great, any ideas for legal drivers?”

“You should check with the school district. They automatically retire bus drivers when they reach 65, and I know several who wished they could continue to work.”

“Thanks I’ll do that. Oh, here come the other two buses. Do you mind if I look them over?”

“No, they’re yours, as soon as you pay us.”

“Wait here, and I’ll give you a check. You’ll need to mark my invoice paid.”

I did pay them and then went to check the buses. They looked great, and the inside had a new bus smell. I took the keys, locked the doors, and went to the dining hall. It was close to lunchtime, and Mario had just brought in a case of sandwiches from the pizzeria.” Mario, remind your dad he has a standing order for Italian food every Saturday.”

“He knows and has the whole family working for tonight’s dinner. I may stay and have some as well.”

“You’re always welcome.”

The kids came in after washing their hands and took their place around the dining hall. I noticed that friendships were being forged, and that was a good sign. Sandwiches were passed out with a bag of chips, several of the boys got sodas, juices, and milk from the vending machines and passed them around. I smiled, they were happy and anxious to hear who the painting contest winner was, but I think they were more anxious to hear what the prize was.

When Abe came in, they all started to clap. Abe gave me a slip of paper with the winners listed. I couldn’t believe the number of kids on the list.

“I apologize for taking so long to declare a winner. The problem was I couldn’t make up my mind. They all were very good. I couldn’t declare a winner. So Brad told me to select all of them who I thought were winners. I’ll name the person who signed the entry. Then I want all of you who worked on that entry to stand. The first paper is Beth.”

I noted down on a sheet of paper, all that stood with Beth. “As your name or team is called, could you please move behind me and don’t leave until I have your name.”

Abe continued to call the names, and they moved behind me. I was glad to see Billy on one of the teams. He was typical of the street boys, molested to eat, well no more.

When all of the winners were behind me, I saw it was almost a 50-50 split. Beth looked at me with her big eyes, “Brad, we have to share the prize with them. They worked hard as well.”

“You canvas the winners and let me know how they feel.”

“For all who have participated, we’ll be going to the Zoo.”

“How are we going to get there?”

“Good question, Pat. After lunch, take a look out back, and that’ll answer your question.”

Well, I didn’t need to say that when Bubba ran into the dining hall, “Hey, there are four buses parked out back with Sanctuary painted on them.”

The kids left their food and ran out the back to see the buses. While they were gone, Beth told me that the winners were unanimous in their decision. When the kids came back, they were excited about the buses. I called their attention, “I’m very pleased as to the comradeship you all exhibit. While you were looking at the buses, I was told that the winners felt only right to share their reward with all of you. That being the case, the prize for those selected was to go and see the musical, Lion King. And now, you all will be going.”

There was a loud cry of excitement among the kids. I looked at Abe, and he shrugged his shoulders as if to say, I love them all. Now the problem would be of getting eighty-some tickets. But I knew who to put on that project, and he just walked in the door. “Tony, I’m glad to see you. I’ve a little project that I need your help with. I need tickets to the Lion King for the kids; about 90 should do it, preferably a matinee.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have come here today.”

“Come on, Tony, give it your best shot. Abe and I are going out for lunch. Join us.”

I called Jeff, Beth, and Pat over, “I’m going to lunch with these guys. I have some business to discuss concerning the expansion. We’ll be at the Chinese restaurant down the street, if you need me to come and get me, ok?”