Friday Fun Client Stories

Karma comes in all packages - and usually when you don't expect it.

This morning - I pulled up to my office, to see a big ol' caddy out front. I usually am the first person in the office in my downtown location, so this was a surprise to me. As I parked, I saw that it was a client from many many many years ago. She smiled and waved really big. As I got out of my car, she said "I have lots of stuff for you" - and she showed me her back seat. It was literally piled high with bags and bags of toiletries.

She was a client we saw in the Emergency Room in the early days of our agency. Back then, she was a mother of children ranging from teens to toddlers, and was kidnapped and raped at gun point on Mother's Day. (Just a side note: we've had more clients in the ER on Mother's Day than any other holiday. I know that in the world of Domestic Violence, Super Bowl Sunday is the day they see the most violence. Mother's Day and the Super Bowl? That's a tad obvious, isn't it?) We went to court with her - held her hand while testimony was given, paced the halls while the jury deliberated, and wilted with relief when he was convicted on all counts.

She says that she never forgot what we did for her during those dark days. This summer, after seeing an article about our agency, she decided to undertake a project for us. She went to her church, all people who knew about her rape, and asked them to collect toiletries for us to give to victims we see in the ER. (When someone undergoes the evidence collection process, their clothing is taken for evidence purposes. We provide those clients with a sweatsuit and toiletries so that they can clean up and feel "human" again before talking to the police.) Her church family gave us lovely scented things - full sized bottles of lotion and shampoo - the works. They were quite generous and obviously thought about what would make someone comfortable at such a time.

She's in graduate school, and a grandmother, and looked very very happy.