Part 3 — Citizen Of The Year
Mr. Crane held up a bank statement. “In December 2019, $12,000 left the toy drive account for a boat payment,” he said. “The signature belongs to Dennis. That money belongs to the children of this county.”
Dennis stammered about a loan he fully intended to repay. “You had five years, son,” Mr. Crane answered gently.
I stepped forward with my folder. “I asked the Texas attorney general charitable trust section to review the books in September,” I said. “And I gave a copy to the Rotary treasurer.” The treasurer stood up at Table 3 and nodded.
Mr. Crane turned back to me and handed me the plaque. It read Citizen of the Year, and the name on it was mine. One man started clapping. Then the whole room stood, and some of the women from the toy drive were crying.
Eighteen years of wrapping paper and sleet do not fit under anyone else name.
Dennis repaid the $12,000 with interest within two weeks, and he resigned from the Rotary board. The attorney general review closed once the money was returned, with a requirement of annual audits. The nonprofit registration was transferred into my name by unanimous vote.
Dennis also enrolled in a counseling program on his own. He told me, in the car on the way home, that he had been jealous for eighteen years. I told him that was the first honest thing he had said to me in a long time.
Pam phoned me the next morning. She apologized for telling me to let him have it. I told her I appreciated that, and I invited her to come wrap presents with us.
The Rotary Club created the Janet Pruitt Volunteer Scholarship that month. The first recipient was a high school girl who had spent three Decembers in my garage.
That Christmas, we collected 3,900 toys. Dennis showed up at six in the morning with the borrowed truck, and for the first time in his life he carried boxes until his back ached.
On Christmas Eve, in my garage, I handed a little girl a wooden train. She hugged it to her coat and said, “Thank you, Miss Janet,” and that was my plaque.