Some members of the Stables Family were not able to make it to the reunion, despite their best intentions. Here is a story of two of them...
BAM! Pickup truck bites the dust!
They were finally on their way to Richmond for the Stables Family Reunion! Lou Stables and his daughter Katie Stables Cuthbertson had loaded up the Ford pickup truck and were heading out of Charlotte, NC, toward the big family event, and they were excited. Lou had been asked to give the blessing before the lunch, and Katie had prepared a PowerPoint slide show of family photos to show throughout the day.
Then it seemed like disaster struck. The pickup threw a rod and died on the highway. Lou and Katie had to be towed back to Charlotte. It was a Friday afternoon that turned into one the most congested days for travel in the Charlotte area and it took two and a half hours to get back home. Having no alternative transportation they informed the reunion organizers that they wouldn’t make it to Richmond.
The Ford had good reason to give out, since it was on its second engine and well past 200,000 miles. Lou and his wife, Bev, had purchased the truck in 2003 for their ministry, Blanket America Ministries, Inc., and they have driven it countless times into the far reaches of the Appalachians, delivering blankets, coats, warm socks, and other necessities to poor and downtrodden mountain people. The truck pulls a trailer piled high with the goods collected from churches and other donors in the Charlotte area. And that trailer has grown with the ministry: first an 18-footer, then a 30-footer, and now two 36-foot trailers. The ministry still uses all four trailers, last year making over thirty trips to rural locations in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Lou is the President of Blanket America and its chief organizer. Last year hundreds of volunteers, both from Charlotte and from local congregations where the ministry is carried out, helped distribute over 8,000 new coats, over 3,000 new Bibles, about 6,000 blankets, and almost 18,000 pairs of socks to those in need in Appalachia. As Lou says, “I think Grandmother and Granddaddy [Katherine and Linton Stables, Sr.] would be pleased,” and knowing that they often helped poor strangers who stopped by their back door during the Great Depression, one cannot doubt that they would, indeed. Lou and the others who participate in the ministry enjoy being in God’s service, “Sharing the warmth of Jesus’ love,” and touching the lives of so many in such great need.
This year might be different, if they are not able to get a new truck. “I need another truck but the Lord hasn’t yet shown me how that is to happen,” says Lou.
We missed Katie and Lou at the reunion, and now we know why. If you would like more information about the Blanket America Ministries, please visit their website. The site includes a way to make a contribution.
