A Ray of Hope

An opportunity crossed our path where we were shown a husband and wife in India who have taken in boys during a drought time. Most of them have one parent but the parent is not financially capable of caring for the children. They have 25 boys who live with them and are providing school for 25 girls. They have been given two acres of land to build a home and grow food for these boys. Their organization is called A Ray of Hope.

Our son has a company in India which does IT work and marketing prep for his U.S. company. He has been in India for the last month and a half. He found this man and his wife and thought. “Wouldn’t it be great for my mom and dad to go over and help these people with their land to grow food for these boys in need?”

It wasn’t exactly our first thought, however we toyed with the idea and then set it aside, no longer pursuing it. But what if we did? What if we reached outward past our outlook on life, our personal goals and gave of ourselves to someone else. What would that do to our lives? How would we be changed? Even more, whose life would be changed because of us?

Finding Our Cause

We often talk about finding a cause to help others, because we can, or can we? We also often talk ourselves out of it because of our current financial situation. We need to provide for ourselves. We need to prepare for our future. We don’t even have a permanent place to live, how can we go and help others?

Jesus Christ had nowhere to lay his head, yet he went about doing good. He healed the sick, caused the blind to see, the lame to walk. He dried the tears of the widow and the poor. He always reached outward.

What about here in America? Who is there that needs help? What food kitchen could use our fresh produce? What children around us are hungry and we just don’t know it. What family works diligently to feed their children and still fall short.

Just Cross the Street

What if we grew food for the widows and widowers in our town who have are recipients of Meals on Wheels. We know a lot of people who receive Meals on Wheels. We know a lot of the people who open their hearts and make the food for Meals on Wheels. We also know as many people who receive the Meals on Wheel and do not eat it. The hearts of the people making it are good but the food they have on the budget they have is not always desirable, so the food sits untouched or only nibbled at day after day and the receivers are still hungry and malnourished.

With all this in mind, we asked ourselves, what can we do in Pittsburgh where we are only able to do container gardening to provide for us and someone else. The answer is, PLENTY!

The lyrics to a song we sing goes like this….

There are chances for work all around just now,

Opportunities right in our way.

Do not let them pass by, saying, “Sometime I’ll try,”

But go and do something today.

Just Serve

There is an established, organized way to find opportunities in your area. It is there for all denominations to use and to give. It is called Just Serve. Go to the site and register. Your city will come up and there will be places to go, things to do and a difference to make to Just Serve. When I looked at our suburb near Pittsburgh there were five opportunities to serve. The Catholic Charities had two different opportunities, and there were three other ways to serve.

Although we considered going to India to help serve others, not everyone needs to leave the county to serve, to give, to feed someone. In the end, we will stay here in America because there are so many people to help here. Do the people in India break our hearts? Yes. But we shall serve here.

Share Your Food

We who have the knowledge and ability to grow food also have the gift to share food with those in need. May our hearts be turned outward as we contemplation how our lives can intertwine with someones else’s life and fill their tender bellies with good wholesome food.