Good Day Everyone! Welcome to another beautiful day in the neighborhood. Thanks for being my neighbor and making our neighborhood beautiful.

One person can make a difference. YOU can make a difference.

There’s the story of A Kid Named Kyle. Kyle was a nerdy kid who was bullied. One Friday he cleaned out his locker and took all of his books home. While walking home the bullies hit him and kicked him. He fell down, his glasses went flying landing in the wet grass. A fellow student came over and helped him pick everything up and walked home with him. They talked and his helper invited him to play football with some neighbor kids. They became friends. They remained friends all through school. Kyle was the valedictorian of their class. In his speech, he told the story of the day he and his friend met. He had cleaned out his locker and took all of his books with him that day because that weekend he was going to commit suicide. Because his friend helped him that day he didn’t do it.

Then there’s the story of the man who read that a 2-year-old boy needed a kidney. They were having great difficulty finding a donor. He was a stranger, not related to this family in any way. He went to be tested. He was a match. So he donated one of his kidneys and saved the boys life.

On a chilly Thanksgiving Day in 2004, 4-year-old Hannah Turner was helping serve dinner to the needy at Toledo’s Cherry Street Mission. In the middle of the hustle and bustle of doing her part to fill plates, she tugged on her mother Doris’ sweater. “Mommy, won’t his feet be cold?”
Hannah had focused on a man in line wearing shoes that had split open to reveal he had no socks on, and her small face reflected concern. Doris tried to reassure her: “His shoes will keep his toes warm.” She didn’t know how they could help with all staff focused on the meal, and she didn’t want her daughter carrying a burden.

Hannah—too smart, too big of heart ‚— was unconvinced. “Mommy, he can have my socks,” she said. That next day, Doris took Hannah to purchase and distribute socks to local shelters. They were able to collect and donate over 100 pairs around Toledo. Over two more years, and with amazing support from friends and family, they distributed nearly 10,000 total pairs of socks to partner shelters.

Hannah’s Socks is a community based non-profit organization dedicated to helping people affected by homelessness, poverty and domestic abuse in Ohio and Southeast Michigan. What began as the simple, intuitive wish of a four-year-old girl to give a homeless man her socks has blossomed into a successful, nationally-recognized program that has helped hundreds of thousands of people in need and raised the awareness of how a simple act can change the face of poverty and homelessness in our region.

YOU CAN make a difference in a person’s life or in the world. In fact, YOU DO make a difference. As it is so dramatically pointed out in the classic Christmas movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” we never know whose life we make a difference in or in what way we make a difference. But we do touch other people and make a difference in their lives.

Always remember this: you are an amazing, wonderful human being who does make a difference in our neighborhood, our world. Thank you for your love, kindness, and compassion and making a difference. You make a difference in my life.

Peace,
Terry

Sharing is encouraged. Your comments, questions and discussion are welcome. Contact me at terrymcc1@yahoo.com.

Honor Similarities * Respect Differences * Celebrate Diversity