July 27, 2011

White Dog and the White Dog Army
Wonderful World Wednesday
White Dog and the rest of the WDA really needed some reinforcement that the world was wonderful. Yesterday was a scary lose-your-faith kind of day. Today, everyone was still a bit edgy and somepup jumped each time a police or ambulance or fire siren was heard even in the distance.

We talked over lunch about the fact that in more than 15 years this was the first time we had ever had any reason to question our safety and that we would not let fear creep into our lives as a result. We believe that most people are kind and reach out to help rather than to harm. Strangers react to stories of unfairness or tragedy, often to their own surprise, by pitching in, offering support, taking a stand. It is this hidden part of humanness that makes us certain that it IS a wonderful world and that in the long run, people do the right thing. Here is a heartwarming example plucked, as they say, straight from the day’s headlines:

Entire Nation Reaches Out To Texas Kids Orphaned, Paralyzed In Crash
Huffpost AOL News First Posted: 7/21/11 08:48 PM ET Updated: 7/22/11 01:26 PM ET

HOUSTON (Associated Press) -- A collision on a remote stretch of West Texas highway that killed a mother and father, orphaned their three children and left the two boys paralyzed has galvanized responses from San Francisco to Connecticut as people send comforting words and raise money for the children's care.

Returning home to Houston from a vacation in Colorado, Joshua and Robin Berry were killed when a vehicle crashed into their minivan. Their youngest child, 6-year-old Willa, suffered several broken bones and her brothers, 8-year-old Aaron and 9-year-old Peter, are permanently paralyzed.

While family members balance grieving with focusing on the boys' recovery, they have found comfort in how hundreds of people around the country have responded to the children's plight.
"It is incredible. When you stop to think about it, people are good. There is a lot of kindness out there," said Adam Berry, Joshua Berry's younger brother. "I lost my brother in this horrible accident. We are working with his kids that can't walk and we don't know if they will ever walk again. In such a huge way my family is grateful because (these efforts) really take our attention away. To see positivity in this is just really helping to carry us through."

Since the July 2 accident, people in such cities as Chicago, Dallas, Aspen, and Washington, D.C., have planned fundraisers or have already raised money for a trust fund set up for the children through bake sales, lemonade stands, benefit concerts, silent auctions, and sports tournaments. Celebrities have tweeted and blogged about the family's situation.

In Baltimore, Allison Buchalter and her 9-year-old son Zachary set up a lemonade stand last weekend outside their home. "Being in Baltimore, being so far away, I wanted to do anything to help," said Buchalter, who attended Tulane University with Robin Berry. "We live on a busy street. I would tell passers-by the story. The more they learned, the longer they stayed, the more money they gave."

The Houston Dynamo, the city's Major League Soccer team, donated part of the proceeds from a game earlier this week to the trust fund. Several Dynamo players, as well as players from the Houston Astros, Rockets and Texans have also visited the boys in the hospital.

The boys are expected to be in rehab for six to eight weeks. Cox said while rehab will help them manage their daily lives, it probably won't help them walk again.

As long as helping those who tragedy befalls is instinctive, White Dog knows that there is a reason to cheer...even if we still have a LONG way to go to achieve dog-ness!