As we have said before, Hannah was a girl who loved to work and make a difference wherever she went. She took her responsibilities as a waitress at our local café very seriously. It wasn’t just a job for her. It was a huge part of her life. We would laugh at times because she acted as if they could not survive without her. As she then moved to Hobby Lobby, she again jumped in with both feet. She felt very responsible as a customer service manager for her employer, their customers, and most of all her coworkers. They were a “family” to her, and she was always looking out for them. This is the same ambition and concern for others that many saw while she was in college. She was never content to “just work” somewhere, she wanted to be a big part of making things better. She loved being able to help at church too. She enjoyed playing the piano for the congregational singing, choir accompaniment, and special music. As soon as she could, she got involved in helping with the children’s ministry. She was very happy to take on the responsibility of organizing Vacation Bible School last year. She worked hard to ensure that everything would go as smoothly as possible. The catalog for next year’s VBS came very shortly after this year’s VBS ended, and she was talking about her thoughts and plans for the next VBS almost daily. The catalog was quickly marked up with her notes and ideas of things that could be done in order to make it even better. I mean, seriously, she would bring it up at like ten at night and begin explaining her thoughts and ideas. We would talk to her for some time, then remind her that she still had eleven months to go before we would do it again. On a weekly basis, she worked with our Wednesday night children’s program. She rode on the bus, picking them up and dropping them off. She loved getting to know the kids, each one individually. She would help with games, lead singing, or teach a Bible lesson. The job did not matter, she was going to help wherever she could.
The children’s ministry at our church is called SPLAT (Scriptural Principles Lived and Taught). This year she had the idea that all the kids needed a “SPLAT” shirt. Something that they could wear to, and in support of their Bible Club program. It was something that she felt would help unify them as a group and thought that it would also be something that they would be proud to wear. After we talked about it for a while, she got to work on the design of the shirts. Then she worked with her friend Madison on getting them made. Madison was a friend that she had from Hobby Lobby. Madison also had a shirt printer and was starting her own side business by making custom shirts for people. This was a win-win! Hannah worked at figuring out the number of shirts that were needed and the sizes. The goal was to give them to the kids and workers as a Christmas present. The last thing that Madison needed was a downpayment to buy all the shirts. Before Hannah had the opportunity to get her the money, she was hospitalized.
All their messaging had been done through Hannah and from her phone. It took a while before we were able to figure out the password on her phone, but then once we did, we were able to contact all her “work and school friends” and tell them about her situation. We were also able to speak with Madison about both Hannah and the shirts. They were still something that we needed to see accomplished for the kids and for Hannah too. We got Madison the money that she needed to get started, and she immediately got busy working on the shirts. She was able to get them completed just in time for us to be able to give them to the kids last night, the final Wednesday before Christmas. Each child received a gift. These contained five items: 1. An articulated 3d dragon printed by Lloyd, one of the faithful helpers. 2. There was also hot chocolate (a favorite drink of Hannah’s). 3. There was a hat or scarf that Hannah had knit. 4. There was a hand puppet from Hannah’s collection. 5. There was the shirt that she had designed for them. Although it was difficult to give these gifts to the kids without Hannah, it was nice to give them something, from her, that showed them that they are loved and appreciated by the workers, our church, and by Hannah herself. After receiving the shirts, we took the group picture that you can see attached to this post.
We are blessed.
Hannah Helps 