Wednesday, February 24, 2016


Hey Sandlotters , Never get old seeing how God is always working in all of our lives and below is a letter to a corporation " IN DETAIL " ( yall know me - never short of words - lol ) that is a really cool experience I wanted to share . I hope it reaches each of yall in the sense of what you do everyday and how you can bless someone while you work, play, shop or simply by going out into the community without even knowing the whole story of that person until later. The One Project moto is using at least one gift from God to assist someone else or more in our community and this wonderful lady Alfreda did that twice by doing what she does everyday and I hope it may touch yall to know that you probably do it also without even knowing. I have taken some of this email out since I have read it again but yall hopefully get the meaning.

What is at least ONE gift that you are utilizing everyday ? Keep on  !!!!


Coach Mike

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Alamo/ National / Enterprise Corporation,

I am writing you in reference to one of the most wonderful and professional and caring people I have met in your industry in a very long time  - Alfreda Morrow - Popoola.

In late june 2015 my 82 year old father and I received a call from his sister in law that his 80 year old brother had become ill in New York City on a baseball bus tour to the east coast from Sioux City Iowa and that if any family wanted to see him before he passed away to get to New York immediately. At approximately 2:00 pm I had my wife drive us in our 2002 Ford Explorer to the airport in Greensboro ( from Kernersville - where we live ) to rent a vehicle since I new our car would not make it. This is where I first met Alfreda and told her what was going on and that I needed a vehicle desperately . I did not know , however , that it was also the same weekend as the National Gymnastic Competition in Greensboro and that they were very short on vehicles . Alfreda went above and beyond her duties in putting us in a 2015 Kia Sedona van at a rate that was so thoughtful . This allowed us to leave Greensboro by 5pm and also allowed us to take my 11 year old son so he could ride comfortably . We reached the hospital in New York at 3:00 am and my father was sitting beside his brother by 3:30 am. Uncle Ray passed at 2 pm that Wednesday and there would have been no way my father would have been able to be with his brother if not for God crossing our paths with Alfreda. My father mentioned this several times on the way home Thursday. 
Thursday afternoon when we got back to Greensboro it was decided that it would be best for my father and mother to make the trip to Sioux City , Iowa for the funeral by driving. I went back to the Greensboro airport and talked again with Alfreda who extended our contract in the same vehicle at a very reasonable weekly rate . This blessing was tremendous since it now allowed my mother , father, wife and two children 9 and 11 to make the trip to be with family . There would have been no way possible to do this if we would have had to fly or drive my vehicle which again would not have made the trip . 

We left Friday morning and pulled into Sioux City, Iowa Saturday afternoon in time to get settled in with family and to make the viewing on Sunday afternoon along with funeral and burial Tuesday afternoon.
Again the blessing by this simple and wonderful act of Alfreda continues since my fathers oldest sister was also in hospice in Arizona and allowing us to drive to Iowa got my father closer to his sister .  My Fathers younger sister ( 73 ) from California had her grandaughter drive them in for the funeral and we decided to have my folks ride to Arizona with them so that my father could see his older sister one more time .and myself and my family would drive back to kernersville and return the vehicle.
My Aunt had been bed ridden for the past two weeks with home hospice coming every day. When my mother and father arrived in Arizona two days after leaving Sioux City and dad went to his sisters bedside for a bit the family decided to go out to get something to eat . As everyone was getting ready my aunt who , again, had been bedridden for weeks got up and started getting ready also . When asked what she was doing she replied she was going to dinner with them . My aunt passed away two weeks later and at her request did not want any kind of service . My father got to be by his brothers side when he passed in New York, attend all funeral services in Sioux City, Iowa and say his goodbyes and eat one more meal out with his older sister in Arizona all because of the kind heart and blessing of Alfreda Morrow - Popoola.

And the blessing did not stop there . 

My wife and I started a Christian Non Profit five years ago dedicated to youth in our community and immediate response to the needs of our community , The One Project and a program under The One Project called Sandlot Baseball . 
Sandlot baseball is a non compete christian league where all children are welcome. Sandlot was built by myself and my wife and volunteers on a horse pasture donated by the owner for $1.00 a year . Your can see what we have done by going to www.sandlotfamily.com and also see The One Project which is immediate response to our community , we have built bathrooms and re done houses for the elderly and single mothers , repaired vehicles, bought groceries for needy famiillies, clothes for kids , spent time in our local pediatric cancer wards and whatever else needs attention during the day in our community . In doing this we have lost our house three cars and a 29 foot trailer we owned and we would do it all again tomorrow for these children and families. I currently own a 1995 chevy truck that was my fathers and will one day be my sons and my wife owns a 2002 Ford Explorer that was given to us by one of our board members for payment on labor for build a deck at one of his rental houses . We called it Work For Wheels , lol.

With both of these vehicles you can imagine the things that go wrong and I am telling you all this to lead in to Alfredas most recent blessing . My wife Shelby's vehicle , the Explorer , has a mind of its own and decides to give her heat at random along with cutting off when cold and my truck has an engine issue that we were going to fix once we received our taxes back. Friday , February 12th my truck decided that it was time for the rear end to break and shelbys Explorer heat quit for good . I had reached the end and called my father to come and get me at my friends automotive shop and take me to the Greensboro airport to rent a vehicle for Shelby and the kids until I could figure out what to do . We pulled into the airport walked up to the counter and there was our angel once again who quickly looked at both myself and my father and said " Hey , how was yalls trip to Iowa ? ". Are you kidding me ? We had not seen Alfreda since the end of June and you can imagine the number of people she sees on a daily basis working at the airport and her first questions is " How was your trip to Iowa ?". Dad lit up in her remembering that time for him.

I approached the counter and told her how good it was to see her and again what a blessing she was to us during that time and then told her I needed a vehicle ( economy ) nothing flashy or nice . even told her if she has a Prius with s sunroof to where I could stick my head out if it was to small . Something to get us by.
Alfreda then typed the information into her computer and told me a price which I thought was very fair for an economy vehicle and then told me my choices of a Maibu or Dodge Charger . I asked her if that was right and she asked me which one I wanted and I quickly thanked her and chose the charger knowing my wife and kids would love the experience. This past Friday I had to extend my contract another week and may have to again since my truck is still not acting right and im driving the Explorer . 
Alfredas blesing has allowed my wife and kids to experience a comfortable and safer vehicle while I try to get everything repaired and it has been so wonderful seeing their faces just for a bit while the " ride in style " as my son calls it.

I have dealt with rental agencies for years in my travels and have also had numerous friends work for your company at Enterprise along with a nephew who spent years as a truck rental manager in this area and Charlotte and I cannot thank you enough for the incredible person you have working at the desk in the Greensboro airport - Alfreda Morrow - Popoola. 

In what my family has done and seen in the last five years we realize that the small blessings are just as wonderful as the gigantic and the love and kindness that my family has experienced with Alfreda will be remembered for years to come.

I will be a Alamo / National and Enterprise customer for life now and plan to let many other know of these wonderful acts of kindness . The One Project moto is what can you do with at least ONE gift from God and Alfreda is living proof of our motto.

Thanks and roll on,

Coach Mike Isaacson
The One Project / Sandlot Baseball
490 Little John Road
Kernersville, NC
27284