“If you’re lonely, you get a sock monkey. If you’re sick, you get a sock monkey.&#
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Wed, September 03, 2008
- Viewed 199
- (15) comments so far
VanSickle e-mailed about 200 orphanages across the United States offering sock monkey gifts for children. She expected to receive one or two replies, but every orphanage responded with a toy request. Soon, VanSickle recruited several dozen churches and other organizations across the country to help. She calls the volunteers her “monkey posse.”
The ministry has given sock monkeys to cancer patients, children with autism or Down syndrome, soldiers and children in Iraq and Afghanistan, the homeless and anyone else who needs comfort and encouragement.
“Miss Beth has touched everybody’s lives,” says Donna Corbin, a volunteer with VanSickle’s church. “If you’re lonely, you get a sock monkey. If you’re sick, you get a sock monkey.”
Final quote from VanSickle: “None of us live forever and when you’re diagnosed with a terminal condition, you know that your life is limited. We can do something with the time that you’re given, or not. And it’s a true blessing for me, personally, knowing that I’m leaving this world a better place than when I came in.”
Nice thing they’re doing… putting a smile on many people’s faces. A ministry? Maybe.
For some reason it reminds me of an old “Silly Songs with Larry”: “Stop it, stop, stop right this instant! What do you think you’re doing? You can’t say everyone’s got a water buffalo when everyone does not have a water buffalo! We’re going to get nasty letters saying, “Where’s my water buffalo? Why don’t I have a water buffalo?” And are you prepared to deal with that? I don’t think so! Just stop being so silly!”
Same could be said, quite possibly, about a sock puppet.
Your thoughts?
Beth VanSickle still remembers the comfort she felt as a child when her grandmother gave her a sock monkey.
"It always brought me joy, no matter what I was going through in my life," she says of the stuffed, handcrafted doll.
Now, struggling with cancer, VanSickle is spreading that same comfort to thousands of others, including children with cancer and troops and children in Iraq.
Volunteers for Sock Monkey Ministries, which VanSickle founded in 2005, find it difficult to keep up with the demand. They have made 8,500 sock monkeys in the last two years, and there is still a waiting list.
"When you look at them, you can't help but smile," she says of whimsical toys...
Comments
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Peter Hamm on Wed, September 03, 2008
But I DO WANT a water buffalo!
And I am indeed in love with my cheeseburger as well…
This seems like an outrageously great idea, although I think we must balance with the obvious urgency of knowing how someone stands with Christ when they are more obviously at eternity’s door than I am (although I could get hit by a truck today, too…)
bishopdave on Wed, September 03, 2008
As a conservative, well educated, non-Jazz listening, Baptist pastor whose salary landed in the middle of the “how much pastors are paid” post last week, I’m obviously lonely.
Please send me my sock monkey now.
Kmoch on Wed, September 03, 2008
<nitpick> That is a sock puppet…a sock monkey is more like a doll and very unlike a sock puppet. </nitpick>
Furniture on Wed, October 08, 2008
Lmao…Insane stuff.http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/smile.gif
Short Term Health Insurance on Thu, October 09, 2008
That is one cute monkey.:D
Land Rover Parts on Mon, October 13, 2008
Lmao..T’s one damn cute monkey..Stress buster all right.
CDL Jobs on Wed, October 15, 2008
Great post. That is a health mental attitude to solving problems!
Electric Breast Pumps on Sun, October 19, 2008
Great stuff..http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/smile.gif
chatroom on Sun, October 19, 2008
Amazing and funny at the same time. Keep up the good work.
Data warehousing on Thu, October 23, 2008
How touching.
Furnace Filters on Thu, October 30, 2008
This seems like an outrageously great idea, although I think we must balance with the obvious urgency of knowing how someone stands with Christ when they are more obviously at eternity’s…
thank you..
anyhow nice post…
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voyant on Sun, March 01, 2009
very good post continue! thank you
4insure on Fri, September 18, 2009
great and funny job. thanks i love reasing ur blog.. will definitely come back
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