Every year in February we invite anyone to come make homemade Valentines with us at ART 634 on Second Sunday. We call it the Valentines Project. We decide who we want to present the Valentines to. We also collect items that we think they might be able to use. This year we decided that it would be nice if we made paper sack Valentines bags and filled them with snacks, treats, health and beauty items, chapstick and home made Valentines. 
The donations were plentiful. Folks were so generous. One person brought us 78 new chapsticks. Her idea. She thought with this rough winter, they could use one. Sheryl brought 60 white bags with hearts applied on the front of them. Others brought bags and bags of Chocolate candy. One gal brought a bunch of rice crispy bars. The almost unbelievable one was over 70 bags of toothpaste, tooth brush, shampoo, lotion and cream rinse...all in travel size. 
We spent the afternoon with many, making Valentines. How fun was that? Just after we got started the reporter/photographer from the newspaper showed up to do a story on the project. The next day our big project ends up on the front page. 
With the bags all filled with cards, treats, chapstick and chocolate we set out today to distribute them to folks that might need a little hug. We originally thought that we would place them at the door stoop of people that resided at the hotel/motels. You know where they rent a small room to live in. We had some fear but not enough to stop us. We agreed on the way to the first stop to play it by ear.
Well, Sheryl knocked on the first door. We didn't feel comfortable just leaving them on the cold ground. When we both saw the look on the face of the resident, as we handed them a small bag full of love and said, "Happy Valentines Day!!" we knew we were knocking on all the doors.
The look was hard to describe. Most answered the door with a look like what do you want? When we just handed them a sweet bag and wished them a Happy Valentines Day, they mostly would smile real big and say a sincere thank you. Some would ask where this gift came from. Some would say that we made their day. Some, we would say that they made our day. The smiles were great. One guy told me that now he could surprise his girlfriend with a Valentine because she was at work now.
At the first stop we did a few doors and a guy that we had given a bag to came back up to us and said he didn't have much but he wanted us to have this.....and handed Sheryl a book about Elvis.
So many smiles, handshakes and hugs.
Sheryl knocked on one door as I was further down the hall. A guy came to the door. The look on her face as she walked away was different. It appears that he answered the door in his purple negligee.
She noticed that there was a really nice old ornate mirror in the dumpster. I grabbed it to give it a new home.
One guy knew me. He asked me how my Son was doing. I guess they were friends in school.
A sweet little girl barely opened the door and kept telling her Dad that a lady was out here with Valentines.
After two stops we took a little break and contemplated what lives we might have changed. Like someone that had no reason to go on another day until they felt the love from a simple Valentine. The tears of joy. The hope they might have felt. At that point I wanted to interview all of them to tell the story of their struggle.
Our last stop was the Adams Hotel. We started knocking on doors and it was really nice. They all seemed to appreciate it. One resident said, "My across the hall friend is not here but he sure would like one, it would be a great surprise for him." He was lookin' out for you brother.
One guy heard all the knocking and peeked out his door to see what all the action was about. He was very happy to get the last Valentine Bag.
As we were leaving the Building Manager and a resident were in the hall by the kitchen posting the handmade Valentines on the wall for all to see. How great is that?
I think Sheryl and I got way more out of this experience than anyone else did.
