Meet a Travel Agent with a Big Heart, who gives thanks

Meet A Travel Agent With a Big Heart, who gives thanks

Fifty two years ago I went to a party in Los Angeles and met
a charming Major in the U.S. Marine Corps.
I left for England the next
morning and a year later I was in a lift of a building in San Francisco when
the same charming chap got in the lift and we recognized each other. Fate.
We met for lunch, and that was the start of a love affair which has
lasted for 50 years. He promised me a mink and a Mustang if I became
a U.S. Citizen. Alvin, my mink, is going
strong, and the wheels have been upgraded to a Mercedes.

He retired as a Colonel and became a company president. I bought a travel agency. He was on the boards of several charities and would say “Mo, I need some items to auction off at a fund raiser” and I would send out “begging” letters to colleagues in the travel industry. I might have to send out fifty letters, before I got prizes. Over the years, I have obtained some smashing gifts. I would write a thank you to my travel colleague and tell them I would ask God to send them a Red Ferrari as a Christmas present for helping Colonel Jones. Thanks to the travel industry, we were named Citizens of the Year for our fund raising efforts for charities in Los Altos by the Chamber of Commerce.

The Veterans Resource Center at Foothill College was started by veterans from the Los Altos Rotary Club seven years ago. One in five of these young veterans were committing suicide, and now they have mentors, a place to go to, financial support in the way of scholarships, and help buying books. $550,000 has been raised in the last five years. They get lectures from people in different industries, to help them with career ideas. I taught travel for many years at this college, so spoke to them about opportunities in the travel industry. Every year, the Rotarians hold a Cioppino Night where the students work in the kitchen, serve the food, man the bar, and after dinner, they line up, identify the branch of the service they were in, and what they are now studying. We have a U.S. Marine Corps honor guard open up the event . This year, I got six items to auction off, a cruise, a trip to Mexico, and hotel nights in several places. The first letter I sent out was to a General Manager of a five star hotel in Honolulu. Within an hour, I got a reply. Mo, I am sending you two deluxe nights, ocean view, value $1700.

www.LosAltosRotary.org. Send tax deductible donations to LAREF, Box
794, Los Altos, CA.94023-0794

www.foothill.edu/veterans

Why do I work so hard
to help him. . Several years ago I was in New Zealand and badly injured in a
white water rafting accident. One hospital
looked at the Xrays and said there is nothing we can do. She has blood in 98% of her brain. The second hospital said there was only a 5%
chance they could save me, and would operate the next morning on the l8 holes
in the brain. The surgeon said he needed
me awake for the operation, and could I keep myself thinking happy
thoughts. I had just won an award for
the Best Lecturer of the Year by Luxury Travel Magazine, and told him I would mentally give lectures.
After nine hours, he told me they had plugged eight of the holes, and would do
the other eight the next day. An hour
later, I had a stroke and was paralyzed down the left side. I was sitting up in bed and the room was suddenly full of angels. I was terrified, and thought, I am dying and
they have come to take me . I said “I cant go with you, my husband needs me for
his fund raising, he cant do it without me.
If you leave me I promise to do a good deed every single day, and besides, I am British, I want a British
escort. I threw the sheet over my head
and prayed. When I peeked, they had
gone. It was six months before they
could put plugs in the other eight holes.

I have kept my promise. Last Sunday was scouting service in church and seeing these young people made me think, what if I told my readers about the Veterans project. If you could help the Veterans Center with a donation, miracles could happen.

Maureen Jones

All Horizons Travel/Frosch

825 Santa Cruz Avenue

Menlo Park, CA

650-961-2340 direct