I Hate To Do This

Oct 27, 2021by tracey Comments

I really did not want to do this this way. I was going to sit down today and write a nice funny, or not so funny, or just real Tracey honest blog about what’s going on, or what we’ve been up to.  Not a lot.  Where are we living?  All over the place.

Maybe chat about Alec Baldwin, I  personally don’t think he is guilty. I think he cut some corners as a producer,  negligent, but not a killer.  Dave Chapelle, it’s complicated…But I think about him a lot.

Some conversation  that is a better way to say hi to you guys than asking for a favor.

But then I was sitting here in the rain – I’m inside, but you know, staring at the rain through my double glass windows and I was thinking….

Great segue, great effing segue. I’m actually impressed with myself. You see the universe wanted me to do this. I had higher ambitions, but the universe said Tracey go for the gold. Which is the truth, the truth is always golden.

I am inside and it’s pouring out. But if I have to go out, which I do as I can’t go without iced coffee even in a Nor’easter,  But, I am lucky  I have a closet full of coats.

Ahhhh – you’re all saying, we know where she is going with this. She’s about to ask us for coats again. That bitch.  We don’t hear from her since the summer and now she wants us to hand over money.

IT’S COAT DRIVE TIME!

And honestly, it’s all I care about until I reach my goal.

I’ve been asking you all to help me with this for so long there really is no new shpeel. There is, however, new info.

First off, in case you didn’t know it last year we were number two in all of New York City. ALL OF NEW YORK CITY. And thanks to so many of you I was able to do that from Los Angeles.

These years of really turning in the coats has brought me to the attention of New York Cares. I have forged a friendship with the head of it and the head of fundraising.

I am going to get seriously involved in the organization after the first of the year. So, that is very exciting. All from this coat drive.\

This year they asked something very specific from me. They only want me doing kid’s coats.

Kids are hard to raise coats for a variety of reasons.  I list some of them on my New York Cares pledge page.

But if you think about it, we don’t see cold kids the way we see homeless, coatless adults. They are seldom huddled in doorways, they’re not asleep on a park bench. So, often their plight goes unnoticed.

But the pandemic has left so many people, especially kids wanting for so much.

COVID took parents lives, read bread winners of families. It took down businesses that many of these kid’s parents worked in to keep food on the table and the basic necessities in the cupboard.

We bitch and moan about the supply chain being interrupted.

But how about when your whole life is interrupted. How about if you  are literally left with nothing?

We all know how hard it’s been on us. How unsettling. How we have a hard time focusing. Finishing tasks. Remembering what day it is. Trying to figure out what’s safe and what’s not.

But despite all that most of us have a cushion to land on. We might be frustrated and depressed on that cushion, but we’re not without food, often shelter and we all have a warm coat for when it gets cold.

So, this year…picture me with a begging bowl, really pleady face. I know pleady is not a word, but I just coined it. And I kind of like it. So, I stand behind, me begging bowl, pleady face, asking you to give what you can to this very important cause.

I know in the past I have accepted worn coats. I am not this year.

I am not even giving the ones in my closet I tucked away for New York Cares.

Buying all new – coats for kids. And because of the great need with every coat you buy, New York Cares is donating 10 warm meals.

Because chances are if a child is cold, they are more than likely hungry as well.

I started a very soft open of the site last week.  And I am proud to say in one week I have raised almost $9000.00.  It breaks down int0 348 coats and 3483 meals for the hungry.  My goal is $15,000. Which will be 600 coats and 6000 meals.

Help me, help the those in need.  This year of all years. You guys have been so amazing in the past.  Let’s beat our stellar record!

Just click on the link below – please…

https://coatdrive2021.funraise.org/fundraiser/tracey-jackson

Painting by John H Domont