Sometimes a small gift does great things.
I am writing this to say thanks to the person who donated these blankets and to anyone who has given a gift anonymously and then wondered what came of their sacrifice.
Several years ago, right before Christmas, someone anonymously gave us several baby-receiving blankets. The orphanages were well supplied, so as I went about my usual tasks right before Christmas, I tried to take some with me in case I found a home for them.
Blanket 1
On the corner or Orellana and 6 de Diciembre street in Quito, there was a young teenage mother selling bags of mandarin oranges to people in cars as they stopped at the light. On the grass-strip median was her tiny baby asleep in a ragged blanket, next to a basket of oranges. I handed the mom blanket 1 out the window of my taxi.
Blanket 2
I went to visit two-month-old Carlos in the hospital. Carlos was from one of the orphanages we work in, and while he was in the hospital, OSSO volunteers cared for him day and night. We wrapped Carlos in blanket 2. He was wrapped in that blanket for five days in the hospital. He died with the blanket and was buried in it.
Blanket 3
Carlos’s doctor asked if OSSO could help Timoteo, a one-year-old baby in the hospital. Timoteo was near death because his family could not afford the $4 worth of IV ampicillin to treat his pneumonia. Timoteo also was in the hospital for 5 days and went home happy in blanket 3.
Blanket 4
Erica, a very thin young lady with a premature infant in the hospital, heard that we had helped Timoteo. She said she was from a small village out of town and knew no one in Quito. Her baby’s care was free but she needed to feed him. She could not afford formula and had no money for food for herself, so she was making almost no milk to breastfeed him. OSSO gave her $20 for food and $5 for a can of formula that lasted until her milk came back in full. Her baby was wrapped in blanket 4.
Blanket 5
On Christmas Eve, the volunteers and my kids put on a Christmas pageant. As I watched the pageant, I noticed Baby Jesus was wrapped in blanket 5.
So, whomever gave us those five blankets, thank you. According to Jesus Christ, all five blankets were used to wrap up Baby Jesus.
“For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. […] Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
This blog post is ninth out of a series of 12 Christmas stories by founder Rex Head. Read the other stories below.
