Today is Saturday, and this morning I asked myself a question: ‘What does being alive mean to me?’. The question, present in my day, eventually led me to this moment now. Well, isn’t it only to be in the now to be alive, anyways? Well, at this particular now -right now - being alive means sharing the abundance of kindness in a story.
Once upon a time I was hitchhiking – a true story – when I was hitchhiking 2 years ago a friendly man in his mid-sixties pulled over. Curt was brimming over with stories spiced with his joy for living. My journey to the chiropractor didn’t take it’s usual 3 or so rides. Curt altered his route to drop me off directly in front of the office 45 minutes later.
From this quickly becoming friend I learned that he was just dropping off a van-load of free food for people in my small town – more like a village really. He did this weekly just because ‘It is so fun to bring people food which otherwise would have gotten to waste,’ in Curt’s words. Just for fun?!?! You see, Curt and his delightful wife Ruth started a non-profit where they divert food that places like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s were getting rid of, to people who could use it. I can get numbers mixed up so I actually went to their website because I couldn’t believe that their small operation, every week, actually feeds over 2,000 folks in Marin County, California.
Now comes the part which brings tears to my eyes. For the last two years, every week, rain or shine, Curt would stop by and bring me a week’s worth of food. Can You imagine? Think what you would have done if suddenly. you almost didn’t have to buy any food. What would You do with the money?
In my case, this tremendous gift allowed me to continue with my gift to others. I miraculously publish - on a budget the size of ‘loaves and fishes’, a positive newspaper.. The newspaper is free and gets spread around all over the country. My hitchhiker friend’s delicious gifts make sure that the publisher of media promoting care, respect, cooperation, and abundance doesn’t go hungry… and is well-fed with the very values she’s promoting.
In case you’re wondering Ruth and Curt’s organization is called Respecting Our Elders. And the newspaper is called Positive News US. You can look them up at Respectingourelders.org and PositiveNewsUS.org
~Ilonka
