When I was a little girl my mom and dad divorced and my mom had to go on welfare for a short time until she was able to find a job teaching. Even with a job, the starting salary for teachers at the time was $700 a month and she had a house to maintain and 3 kids to support. Needless to say we were poor.
One thing we could not afford was trash pick up so every so often we'd have to load our trash in our old car and take it to the dump. On each trip I was amazed to see people waiting at that dump to go through our trash. They were looking for aluminum and bottles. Realizing this, my brother, my sister and I (probably with my mom's encouragement) got the idea to make special bags with the bottles and cans in them so the people would not have to dig through our trash.
This experience taught me three important lessons: 1. No matter how bad off you think you are, there are people who have it worse. 2. No matter how little you think you can do, you can always do something to help others. 3. God is awesome and He will always see you through.
Take time today to reach out to someone. You never know what they are facing and you never know what a difference you might make.
Patricia Kruger
Milton
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Take the time to make a difference