Beacon House and the dragons

A few years ago I started collecting -- accumulating might be a better word -- stuffed dragons. One of the thrift stores where I shopped for clothes in Chicago happened to have stuffed animals. Tom was always on the lookout for monkeys -- the skinny kind with the Velcro hands -- because of his son John having had one as a sort of trademark for his competitive debating days in high school. As I looked for monkeys, I discovered stuffed dragons ranging in size from six inches to four feet. None cost more than three dollars, and Tom bought me one as a joke. After that, I kept an eye out and wound up with about a dozen, several of them the four-foot variety.

Recently a friend, Debbie Kinder, who is working with Tom on the Stewards project mentioned that another project she is part of -- Beacon House -- was given a ton of Teddy bears and decided to auction them off to raise money. I showed her the dragons and gave her the large ones and a few smaller ones to add to the auction. Having seen some of the same ones I have for sale for twenty to fifty dollars, I thought they may bring in a few pennies anyway. She only agreed to accept them after I assured her that neither Tom nor I had spent more than a few bucks on them, and they are clean and (mostly) in good shape.

Beacon House -- full name Beacon House Center for Family Enhancement -- works to help people find jobs and affordable housing. Like most non-profits, they are operating on a shoestring budget. I doubt that the dragons will bring in enough to fund anything major, but every little bit helps.

And now I am not tripping over stuffed animals.