My Goal Should Have Been 500 Jars

Back to the story....

I believe it was July or early August when I finally told author Jason Wright about my project. He was creating a virtual map of all the places jars were being donated and received. I had truly hoped to keep it a secret until he visited our store in November but I wanted him to be able to add our jars to the map! I really struggled with telling him because I had visualized the whole surprise in my head. In the end I think the decision to tell him early was the better choice but I was bummed it wasn't going to be a surprise anymore! He offered to help in many ways but I turned him down. I had started this project and I wanted to see how far I could get on my own. I kept telling myself that I would be happy with the end results, whatever they happened to be (But I wouldn't have been)!

I believe in July or early August we were approaching 600 people/jars. My family was hard at work in Ohio passing jars out to friends, employees, business owners, Rotary group members, Optimist Groups, church members, and my dad sent one over to Ireland. During one of those nights I couldn't sleep, the thought occurred to me that we didn't have to stay in the US. First we were working towards 1,001 jars, then added jars in all 50 states, and now Christmas Jars were going international!! Very quickly we had jars in Canada, England, Ireland, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, Holland, Italy, France, and several others!

Around the 600 mark things stalled a bit. I felt like I was out of options. I had reached out to all my friends and family and 1,001 just seemed so far away. It was too large a goal and I lost a little motivation, wished I had set a goal for 500 instead, and just really felt like giving up. I hit these plateaus many times throughout the seven months but something always brought me back.

I remember being at work and getting a phone message on my cell phone. I listened, and then I listened again. This was what I needed to know that I was making a difference. It as a lady I didn't know who lived in New Orleans. She had received an empty jar and a copy of Christmas Jars in the mail from someone as part of project 1,001. She explained to me that she and her husband had lost everything in hurricane Katrina. There were three people who had stood by them and helped them through the rebuilding process. She wanted to repay them somehow but she had no extra money. She couldn't give them full jars so she wanted to pass along an empty jar and copy of the book but couldn't afford it and could I help her? I said absolutely, took down the names and addresses of the three people in New Orleans and Florida, purchased three copies of the book and packed them up with jars and mailed them out. This was the sign I needed to keep going.....and onward I went!!

To be continued....