In my last column I mentioned some bumps I was encountering appealing to food markets for donations for the Martin Luther King birthday commemoration on January 20. Instead of getting all the bumps smoothed out I hit some new wrinkles.

My fellow committee members have been a big help to me. My son, Michael, also helped by hand delivering a letter to Whole Foods at the Bergen Town Center. I was elated when I heard from Christian, the man who is in charge of donations, telling me that I could come there to pick up a $50 gift card to be used for the event.

And there it was. I got a brief look at it as I was presented with it by Christian. I immediately placed it in a safe place in my wallet? Somewhere in my pocketbook? In the unlikely place in the pocket of my coat?

I did some food shopping for myself and my daughter, Patricia while there. I had handed in two plastic bags of my own at the check out register.

When I arrived home and couldn't find the gift card, I called Christian to see if I had left it on the counter where he had presented it to me. No dice. I had Patricia search the bags I had left at her house with the groceries in them which I had bought for her.

I searched the car and even the driveway, in case I had dropped it on the way into the house. I thought of contacting the girl that was working behind the counter when I was there.

And then I got a call from a girl named Jackie from Whole Foods and thought my worries were over because she said she had a $50 gift card there which I could come in and pick up anytime. I was sure I had inadvertently left it on the counter and she had found it.

I haven't connected with Jackie yet because she was off when I went there and no one could tell me what her schedule was. As of now it doesn't look good so I may have to use $50 of my own money to purchase food for the celebration which wouldn't be such a bad thing.