Need a little help with my Christmas shopping . . . .

[coffeecup]

Here's the deal: I've been working a bit with a kid in foster care. When I asked him about his plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas, he didn't really have any beyond hoping he gets to help prepare Thanksgiving dinner. I've managed to find out via his foster parents that he's mentioned he'd like a new ball cap for Christmas.

OK, I got that covered. Then I got to thinking about it, and what I'd like to do is get him a number of caps from around the country--different logos, etc. I'm working on that now, and figured I'd put the word out here that I am actively seeking caps. Anything I have posted in the Advertisements forum or Off Topic Trading Post forum can be had for the right ball caps.

I'll bump those posts with an explanatory note back to this post.

Thanks

[junebug]

CC........very cool of you ,sir

question.....what kind of hats are you lookin for???
the old fishnet or as they are called now TRUCKER style???
or the FLEX FIT type???.......or we would need to know a size that would fit his mellon...heheheh

also what kind....sports teams?? advert?? motorcross/skater/surfer brands????

lemme know, i think i have 2 new caps less tags (done tore em off)
i forget whats on them....i will look and get you pics!!!

[coffeecup]

Thanks Junebug!

I'm looking for the one-size-fits-all "snapbacks", like the ones commonly used for advertising, team logos, etc. As much as anything else, I'm going for variety: stuff he'll find interesting. They need to be something he can take to school, no knife/gun/alcohol caps (there went about 90% of the caps for sale around here!). So far, I've gathered caps from the local university athletic department, a John Deere hat, a few of the classic "gimme hats" from seed companies, a couple of fishing-company hats, and some corporate hats.

[glennbad]

I work for an electrical contractor in NH. I have our company baseball caps, if you would like, I can send one.

PM me if interested...

Glenn

[jerryd6818]

Instant collection. He won't know which one to wear first.

BTW -- How old is this kid?

[coffeecup]

He's 15, but has had limited opportunities/exposure to the world. If I do things right I can use the caps to draw him out and get him interested in things beyond his very narrow experiences and interests. Instant collection, but also instant connections to more things in the world around him.

If I can get that--some "hook" to use to interact with him and draw him out, we can start working on a lot of the social skills and independent living skills he'll soon need as an adult.

[Colonel26]

I'm starting my rounds collecting these caps tomorrow. I have some small business owners at church, folks who work for local businesses too. Monday I'll see what I can scare up in bowling green, home of the Corvette and the Hot Rods (baseball team), and we'll see what's available at Mammoth Cave National Park.

I love caps! Every young man ought to have a cap on his head and a knife in his pocket!

[jerryd6818]

Every young man ought to have a cap on his head and a knife in his pocket!

A car to drive and a girl on his arm.

[Colonel26]

The American dream cuz, the American dream.

[Old Hunter]

Coffee, I just had a case of custom hats come in the mail yesterday; they are blaze orange camo (has one of my product logos on the front) - if you want one it yours, PM me your address. I also have some of my last batch left too, green/black camo (also with a product logo) - take your choice. OH

[junebug]

i need a address PM'ed to me also ,please - COFFEECUP

[coffeecup]

Oh, this is going to be so much fun to watch when he tries to figure out who all these people are sending him Christmas presents!

Thanks guys!
Jim

[Salernoslim]

I'd like to send one, send me the address and I'll get it out. Very cool thing coffee.

[glennbad]

Hey Jim,

Just checking to see how the whole "hat" thing went.

Glenn

[coffeecup]

ARGH! My apologies to everyone, I wrote it up and apparently forgot to post it!

As it ended up, there were close to 50 hats (sometimes I'd count 48, sometimes 49--I finally gave up). I thought about wrapping them individually, but realized it could take even even a teenager a very long time to unwrap them all. So I packed them all in one large box.

After everyone else had received their gifts, I handed the boy his package. It was funny watching him. He opened the box and stared in puzzlement, then reached in and pulled out one hat. . . except of course, the way they were packed, 6 or 7 came out of the box. Pretty soon, there was a sizable mound of hats on the table in front of one very excited/happy/puzzled boy.

He loved the hats--I think he was sort of overwhelmed by the variety of colors and names/logos and fonts. He asked where I got them all, and I told him that while I'd obtained a lot of them from local sources, many of them had been sent to him by my friends. He sort of got confused at that, and didn't understand why strangers would be sending him gifts.

We talked about "outcomes" a bit: not just short term, like grades on an upcoming exam, but long-term, things like happiness and success in life. I told him that while we were all adults now, we could remember being teenage boys, and how confusing it could be at times. It can be hard to think about the long-term when you're worried about things that are happening right now. When he gets overwhelmed and feels isolated, we wanted him to remember that there are lots of options in life, and that there are always people out there--people he knows and people he's never heard of--who wish him well.

He asked me to thank you all--Thanks!--and thanks from me as well.

Though brief, that was a long conversation for him. Since then we've had a couple of brief conversations touching on things of this nature, and I expect we'll have a few more over the coming months and years. I get the impression he's still learning how to consider and question things of anything more than the immediate future.

So we'll see how it goes.

[glennbad]

That sounds like a good start for him. It's a good thing you're doing, and I know you're having a positive influence on him.

Thanks for providing a followup for us.