Subject: Story of Denver Religious
House
We learned to live simply in
Religious Houses. We needed people out on the road recruiting courses,
raising money, setting up programs, and working with communities, so as few
people as possible were assigned to get real jobs to pay the bills.
Sometimes that meant that our food budget provided only rather basic
foods. We worked hard, but there was also a dynamic of celebration that
seemed to magically appear from time to time.
Dear Guardian Lee Sugg was helping
watch over us when he won a $1000 grocery buying spree in a local store contest
and presented it to the Denver House. Some of us old skinflints
thought of a whole year's worth of oatmeal or grits, but our always-hungry-youth
saw this as a special gift that should be honored by also getting special
treats. With a little help, they cased the grocery store to find out
some key luxury items that would add a little zip to the daily fare.
Special requests were for good cuts of meat and seafood that we could
freeze.
I can't
recall the exact details, but I think we could have four persons with a
cart or carts going in different directions in a maybe 20 minute time
span. Whatever we could get in those carts up to $1000 was our take-home
prize. I recall that it was after the store had closed so the aisles were
all ours to race in without interference. Our fastest runners (Larry Hamje
was one) were the designated shoppers with the rest of
us cheering from the sidelines and pointing the way to things we thought should
be in the carts. The store manager was the announcer over the speaker
system giving us the On Your Mark, Get Set, and GO signals, as well as calling
out the remaining time. I don't recall how we came out money wise, but I
recall it was close and we were breathing deeply as the cash register rang up
sub-totals. What a grand time we had loading up Lee's pick-up and heading
back to the house to sort through those bags and bags of groceries.
What a great party we had with some of the special cheeses and meats and fruits
that we picked up. I think Martha Lee Sugg also bought some good wine
soda to go with our goodies. What wonderful food we enjoyed from the
pantry and freezer for many months.
Thank you to all the magicians in
our corporate lives who knew the needed dynamics of a winning team.
This memory
was sparked by finding a photo of Lee Sugg being presented the winning ticket
for the shopping spree which I am passing on to Martha Lee. Someone
probably has a photo of the truck load of groceries and may have corrections or
additions to this story.