Delivering Gift Baskets
I pulled into the parking lot of an apartment complex on the north side of Columbus, Ohio and checked my phone to see if I had been texted back. Just an hour prior my vehicle was loaded full of gift baskets, a red Radio Flyer wagon and some oversized plushed animals. This was the last stop of six dropping off what I could only hope was a bright spot in these families holiday. My windshield wipers cycled through one more time pushing a dusting of snow into a line of slush and I smacked the button to turn off my car.
I exited my car and whipped around to the passenger side rear door to pull out the wagon. When I put it on the blacktop the tires wobbled back and forth and I hastily hoisted a basket and a neatly tied plush blanket onto the wagon. Looking at my phone I frowned as there was no text response. I got to the door on the side of the building and noticed a keypad entry I did not have a code for. Typically with apartment drop offs I texted the recipient in advance and had them meet me downstairs. This would allow me to not have to lug the items up the stairs but also to keep the gifts from being seen by their children.
Tapping the screen I stood patiently as the phone began ringing. Phone calls are the worst, why couldn’t they just read my text? Was I being impatient? Was I expecting alot from someone who was already struggling to provide for their family? Was I being a fucking asshole? Nothing. Just me and my thoughts and gifts that were growing wetter by the minute. I told myself to be patient and cursed myself for allowing myself to feel inconvenienced. A tried to pull up TikTok or Instagram to scroll for a minutes while I waited for either the people to call me back or someone to open the door for themselves with the kindess to let me through without the proper code. The screen quickly became a snowflake landing pad rendering it useless.
Five minutes into standing their, my phone vibrated to life in my pocket. I quickly reached in and brought it to my face. The voice on the other end apologized and they told me a four digit code to unlock the door. Dammit. Why can’t you just meet me down here… Of course what I said instead was “Thank you, what was your unit number? They didn’t provide that information when they gave me your contact info and address.” I stammered politely. “Unit 314.” they told me. Of course it was on the third floor. I punched the code in and dragged the wagon over the step into the hallway. Pushing my phone down into my now partially damp pocket I lifted the wagon to my waist and began up the stairs.
Upon arriving at the door, I half expected the folks to open it before I even knocked. Nope. I heard the sounds of children inside and a television but it didn’t sound like anyone was headed my way despite the rather loud knocking I had just performed. God, you even knock like an asshole… Nothing. Finally I raised my hand to knock again and the door popped open. A child rushed out into the hallway grinning ear to ear and reached for the baseket. What I assumed was their parent came directly out behind them also grinning and apologizing again for whatever it was that my face apparently was looking like had happened to me. Goddamit. I AM an assshole. In previous years I would have had a frozen turkey in tow, but this year the organization had decided to get gift cards instead because some of the recipients were not poultry consumers they said.
Opening my coat I reached in to grab the gift card and handed it to the man. His smile disappated and he said softly “Oh… $15..” This had been what I was afraid of. $15 at a grocery store gets you maybe bread and eggs for a family dinner. That’s about it. He pushed down his obvious disappointment and forced a smile and said “Thank you sir.”
Realizing I was not giving enough to really help…
As I walked away I became more and more upset. What was I doing? These folks were getting tiny gift baskets and a measely $15 gift card. The route was a two and a half hour round trip that resulted in one or two of the families not responding to me at all when I arrived. I wasn’t sore that they were ungrateful. I was botherd that I wasn’t dong ENOUGH for them. Maybe these gifts were not what they wanted, maybe their family was too big for a tiny gift card. What ELSE could I do that would help MORE?
“Hey google, navigate to the nearest Kroger.” I told my phone as I approached my dented Honda. From there I drove to the grocery and grabbed a gift card for $50, navigated back to the same apartment complex, punched in the code and knocked my confidently on the door. This time it was just him. He opened the door confused and said “Yes?” I handed him the card and said, “Here. Here is a card for $50, I want to make sure your family has a good holiday.” His smile seemed to nearly reach his ears as he reached out to me and grabbed my hand to shake it enthusiastically. “THANK YOU.” He said. That was all it took. I knew what I had to do.
November of last year I put $500 towards providing direct cash assistance to folks who needed it. I put it out on my personal facebook page that this is what I was doing and to message me if this kinda of help was needed. I was quickly overwhelmed. Within days I had 14 messages and was completely out of cash to distribute. So I put out a call for help chipping in to my friends on all my social media profiles. In another few days I had raised another $1500 allowing me to send Venmos CashApps and Zelles to everyone who had asked for help. This was the way. THIS is how I could help the fastest and in a way that the person being helped didn’t have to apply, wait and get stuff they didn’t neccessarily need or want.
This year I tightened it up a bit. I have dropped another $500 in the bucket, but also created a unique name OFFBEAT AID that aligns with my online persona Offbeatagent and a similarly named Venmo account @offbeataid and a new bank acccount that would hold ONLY funds that were being sent out to folks directly. So if you need direct cash assitance OR you would like to kick in a donation, send it to OffbeatAid on Venmo, or Zelle using the email offbeatagent2022@gmail.com. Make sure to comment below if you can donate or share my posts about it on my various social media platforms. Thank you and lets let the love land in folks bank accounts this holiday season once again! -Matt Ward aka Offbeatagent
