You never know what effect a random act of kindness will create. But, I wanted to tell you about an event that reach beyond the small gift given by one of our Crews. However, first I have to tell you a story…
By now I’m sure you’ve all seen the devastation in Haiti. If you are like me, you are saddened, but a little numb to international tragedy. It’s a world away. Send a little money, say a prayer for the victims, and promptly forget.
However, Haiti is different. I have friends who have been trying to adopt a little girl from an orphanage in Haiti. After several mission trips, Mike and Missy Wilson decided to adopt Tia. The Wilson’s older child, Katie, took a semester off from college to go work at the orphanage, arriving just one week prior to the earthquake. As you can imagine, Mike and Missy were at first terrified, then relieved to hear from Katie after 24 hours of waiting and trying to reach her. She and Tia, as well as all the orphans were all okay.
Mike was able to get to Haiti shortly after the airport began accepting flights. He took a Southwest flight from Nashville(BNA) to Tampa(TPA) and then got on a charter to Haiti. He was reunited with Katie and Tia and began to work to bring them home. Here’s more in Mike’s own words:
What About These Kids???
January 16, 2010 11:24 pm
Here in Haiti the orphan crisis is very real. I have been here since Wednesday evening and beginning at dawn on Thursday, the number one priority of my visit was to rescue the orphans we knew were without a building in Carrefour. What began as my simple attempt to rescue my daughters became a realization…Haiti is in dire need of help, and it will not be easy.
Thursday we were fortunate. We were able to locate all of the children from our orphanage, secure transportation for them all, and move them to a safe location outside of Port au Prince. They were all alive, safe, and (with the exception of one of the workers who was at the hospital at the time of the quake and received a broken leg) unharmed.
The problems grow quickly. The building where the children once lived is unfit for them to return to. The bottom two floors have compressed to the point where no one even entertains the thought of reentering the building. When we left the building on Thursday with the children, one of the guards ran back inside ignoring the shouts to stop. When he came back down he was carrying Katie’s clothes that had been hanging in her room. HE RISKED HIS LIFE FOR HER CLOTHES!! The children got out with the basics…clothes for that day, a few mats, and the food and water they bravely went back into the building to get. The children are alive and doing well, but for how long.
The adults can deal with things. The children are on their own. Most of the violence I have seen firsthand comes from those who have lost loved ones, those who have been turned away from getting help for their sick or injured family and friends, criminals, and parents fighting for their children’s lives.
So who fights for those without parents? It’s truly up to us. We MUST take care of these children…because the sad reality is this: over the next few weeks more children will be forced to live in orphanages and creches because they unfortunately are now “orphans.”
As Paul Harvey would say, “And now for the rest of the story.”
This past week I received a call from Mike about his flight to TPA that he just had to tell. He was so appreciative and the story so moving that I couldn’t keep it to myself.
The day after the earthquake, Mike took Flight #1627 from BNA to TPA. The Flight Attendants on that flight were Stephanie, Marchell, and Holly. Upon learning that Mike was on his way to Haiti, they filled a garbage bag with peanuts and pretzels. Mike took that bag with him when he boarded a medical charter to Haiti later that day.
Mike told me that those snacks were supper for his team that night when they got to Port au Prince. When they saw kids on the side of the road that they could tell were starving, they would share some peanuts or pretzels. Then later, those snacks were used to feed the children at the orphanage until aid could arrive.
I can’t help but remember my Sunday School lesson of the boy with five loaves and three fish that Jesus used to feed five thousand. It may not have been five thousand, but I truly believe the gift that Stephanie, Marchell, and Holly gave was multiplied in ways we will never know. It was their Servant’s Heart that led to a gift that quit literally saved children in Haiti from starving.
Since that time, the orphanage has received food and supplies. But in the first days following the earthquake, a few bags of peanuts and pretzels went a long way to help some hungry children. You just never know the difference that a random act of kindness can have.
(In my best Paul Harvey imitation), “And now you know the rest of the story!”
