VERO BEACH — The old man with the long grey beard, tattered clothes and shoes held together with duct tape is gone.
His spot on a park bench in downtown Vero – a place he called home and a place where a little girl bought him a Christmas gift four years ago – has long been vacant.
But the mission that began the moment 7-year-old Lauren Weaver first saw the man and learned from her parents what it meant to be homeless continues to expand.
Four years ago, Lauren dug into her piggy bank and pulled out her allowance and birthday money – money she had been saving to buy an iPod – so she could buy the stranger in Pocahontas Park a Christmas gift.
“Merry Christmas,” she told the stranger as she handed him a box filled with toiletries and snacks. “I think about you all the time.”
He thanked her and told her he hadn’t received a gift since he was a little boy.
The man then looked at Lauren’s mom Melissa Weaver.
“Thank you. Most parents don’t let their children speak to me,” he said.
Melissa Weaver responded.
“Most people are not as determined as (Lauren). She wanted you to have this gift and to have a merry Christmas.”
As they left the park, Lauren saw a bicycle with loaded bags that drooped over the handlebars.
She put another Christmas box of toiletries beside it.
Later that day, Lauren felt something she couldn’t quite find the words to describe.
“It was that feeling when you’re happy but something feels kind of sad and odd,” she said.
Her heart was speaking to her.
“I’ve learned the true meaning of Christmas and that it is better to give then to receive,” she said.
That was evident Saturday when in under one hour, her family’s van filled from end to end with donated canned foods, toiletries and snacks for Indian River County’s homeless after a drive called Lauren’s Way got underway at Waldo’s at the Driftwood Resort.
The drive was for four hours.
“She’s an awesome little girl,” said Lee Olsen, the general manager of Waldo’s restaurant and bar.
The two met a little more than a year ago when Lauren spoke at The Source annual banquet about her mission, Lauren’s Way, to help the Source’s efforts to care for the homeless.
She spoke about the first time she laid eyes on the old man, how with the money from her piggy bank, and the $25 her parents chipped in, she was able to fill a box with toiletries and socks for him and six others after donating them to The Source.
She spoke about the following year’s efforts when she had collected enough goods for 39 Christmas boxes.
She did 100 boxes last year. This year she was hoping to fill 110 to 120 boxes and collect about 1,500 canned goods to stock The Source’s pantry.
Saturday’s event pushed her past her goal.
“I cannot believe this,” she said as a stream of people came to Waldo’s to drop off food and toiletries. “It’s gotten so big.”
Late Saturday after Lauren and her family finished sorting the items, they discovered they came away from the drive on the island with $456 in cash donations; 669 canned food items and 759 hygiene products.
“We are truly touched by the support of our community,” Lauren’s mom said. “She will easily have enough to make 150 boxes this year.”
Weaver still marvels at the tenderness and compassion her daughter exhibited over the years. Lauren has opened her mother’s eyes as well.
“Why is it that she managed to reach out to him (the man in the park) and we saw him and many other people like him throughout the years and never reached out?” Weaver asked. “It just amazes us. She was so observant and cared so much. She didn’t see him as a homeless man on a bench. She saw him as a man in need.”