Thanks to Them

It happens in a flash, an instant. Suddenly lives are changed for the better.

Millions of ordinary Americans, usually with little or no recognition or praise, offer extraordinary time to try to improve their world. But their path to good deeds often starts with halting, quirky steps: a debilitating illness and a prayer. A spanking in a youth center. The speech of a nun. A chance meeting at sea with dolphins.

No matter how they decide to do what they do, however, their efforts can by quietly moving: lonely seniors are no longer neglected; high-risk teen-agers get attention from a self-described former tough; crime victims receive some care and attention that the system never could give.

For all the labor, the hard work of all too many largely goes unsung. On a day of thanksgiving, it’s worth telling some of the tales of kindness.

Here are a few:

Leroy Larsen

Larsen is a United Parcel Service driver and founder of The Lord’s Bus Ministry, which collects and delivers food and clothing to people living in the Tijuana dump and other destitute areas of Mexico. “Just before I took on this work, I was off my job for a year and a half. I had severe asthma and my weight went down to 90 pounds. I was told I would never be able to work again and was given a Social Security disability pension.

“During the time I was sick, I had a prayer: ‘God, if you heal me, I’ll serve you.’ One night I changed it to: ‘God, it doesn’t matter if you heal me. I’ll still serve you.’ Within two weeks, I had put 30 pounds on my body and eventually my asthma disappeared and I went back to my job.

“Shortly after that, my wife, Myrna, and I went to Mexico with our son’s youth group and took food and clothing to an orphanage. We continued to go and expanded to other areas like the dump. We have volunteers who work with us now. A lot of donations are just left on our front porch in La Crescenta. We have rummage sales between the trips to sell the things that aren’t appropriate. The money buys rice and beans and clothing and cement for floors for people living in the dirt. We do a lot of construction now.

“We don’t go so much to the dump and the orphanage anymore. A lot of people take things there now. We go there occasionally, but there are places where people are much worse off and we go there. We go about once every six weeks. It’s usually as often as we have enough stuff. Sometimes we go when we feel led to go and the stuff just seems to materialize. It’s very unusual. It’s the Lord’s ministry. I wouldn’t want to get the glory for this. He’s the one who makes it happen, not us.”