The long-awaited weekend for the annual college Homecoming football game and festivities had come. This had become a tradition for Carol, her husband Mark, and now two generations of their family. After dinner, the couple headed to their hotel. The torrential rains made it difficult to see. They decided to pull into a driveway to key in the address of the hotel, to make it easier and safer to get to their destination. Because of low visibility and flooding, Mark missed the edge of the concrete and the car ended up in the ditch full of water. Across the street, at that same moment, Jennifer was locking up the massage parlor after a busy day at work. As she turned to walk to her car, she saw the car roll into the ditch. She immediately called for help, ran across the road, opened the door so the man could get out, then went around to the passenger side to help rescue the lady. While waiting for help, Jennifer insisted on taking the couple to her place of business to get them out of the hard rain. She gave them towels to dry off and then more to wrap around them so they could keep warm. Because of her kindness and attention, Carol commented that Jennifer must be a Christian. As she smiled, Jennifer replied, “Yes, I am.” Even though it had been a busy and long day at work, and she was looking forward to going home, Jennifer graciously gave of her time, energy, and resources to help Carol and Mark in their time of need.
When Lauren Schroeder was 14, she volunteered at a community food bank. She noticed that there were boxed goods and cans of food, but no fresh vegetables or herbs. Lauren asked her parents if she could start a garden on their 150-acre farm in Dixon, Iowa, in order to supply people with fresh vegetables. After researching the best things to grow in their climate and weather, when to plant, and when to harvest, Lauren planted zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, pumpkins, herbs, cauliflower, jalapeños, green beans, squash, onions, and a few other vegetables on one-half acre of land. She applied for and received a grant from the National FFA Organization to help pay for the seeds and additional gardening supplies. With weeding and watering, the garden was a daily commitment of several hours of work. When it came time to harvest, Lauren’s three younger siblings helped. The first crop yielded 40 pounds of produce. After packaging, she delivered the goods to a soup kitchen, food banks, a nursing home, and a few non-profits in her town. The past two years, Lauren increased the acreage to plant and varieties of vegetables and donated over 7,000 pounds of produce. Jenna Kingsley, one of the FFA teachers at Calamus-Wheatland High School, where Lauren is a junior, said, “Lauren’s project truly comes from the heart. Her innate self-confidence and generous hand to help those in need has left an impact larger than she could have imagined.” Lauren says that she has probably invested over 1,000 hours in her project. Her 11-year-old brother Blake helps pull weeds and Natalie, 15, and Kody, 14, help their sister box and load the vegetables so they can be delivered. Lauren stated, “I’m learning a lot as I go, and I love giving back. I’m happy to do it. Everyone deserves to have something healthy to eat.” Her goal is to produce even more to give away this next year.
Whether it’s spur of the moment or intentionally planned and executed, may we, too, be gracious givers.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
