Small Adds Up to Big

It’s the last day of summer vacation, but I got up at six AM for a really big reason. Today the very generous folks at Bayer Crop Science came out to the Durham Branch of the Food Bank to pack 2,000 Weekend Power Packs for kids who are at risk of hunger since school is starting. Oh yeah, while they were there they made a $300,000 donation.

Since the press conference and packing event was being held in the “Dana Lange Volunteer Center,” the Food Bank asked if they could roll this ‘ole past board chair out to welcome everyone and kick the event off. I was happy to lose my last free morning for a really big check.

Some things are just way better big and checks are at the top of my ‘it’s better bigger” list. But then some things are better small, like hips or stomachs. What I really wish I had on the “It’s better small” list are the number of people who are at risk for hunger, especially kids in school.

An amazing woman named Louella Rutledge who runs the Weekend Power Pack program out of an Orange County Church spoke about the impact the food she gets from the Food Bank makes on the lives of the 74 children she feeds every week. She read a bit from a note that a teacher sent her. “I had a new student who when she started was unable to keep up with her work and was listless and tired in school. When she started getting her Backpack with food things changed. After a few months of continuous improvement in school I asked her what was different. The child said that she felt special because of getting food for the weekends and that made her not only less hungry, but wanting to try because she knew people cared about her.”

The backpack she gets on Friday is small. It usually has things like a few cans of beans and franks, or chili, some cereal, fruit and milk. But that very small thing makes a big difference in one life.

I am thankful for all the people who do small and big things to help their neighbors. We never know what impact we are going to have in the world, but if we all try and do one or two little things they will add up to one big better world. Thanks so much to all the volunteers who make people feel special. I hope someone made you feel special today too.