Unselfish generosity

While driving home recently from a stewardship and finance committee meeting where we discussed how to encourage generosity among members of our downtown First United Methodist Church, as I passed by Terry Elementary School on Mara Lynn Drive, I saw an unusual sight: a woman and a teenage girl sitting in lawn chairs in front of the open hatchback of their car. A hand-lettered sign stated “Free sandwiches.”

The image was riveting to me. Though hurrying home to prepare dinner, I decided to go around the block and come back to double-check what I had just observed. I stopped and visited for a few minutes, inquiring whether it was a PTA project or a mission program of their church.

I learned that it is solely a service project for the mother and her teenage daughter, whose idea it was to make sandwiches on a regular basis to give away because of concern about children being hungry, especially in the summer. So they drive often to this location because it is across the street from a row of duplexes and two blocks of apartment buildings which assumably house many children and families of modest income. They said that since their offers are not always accepted, before returning home they drive to a nearby intersection where homeless people often stand begging for food and donations from passing drivers. They said no peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are ever wasted. I asked if I might take their picture but did not ask their names. Perhaps I will see them again, but in the meantime, I am thanking God that I could witness their unselfish acts of generosity in these troubling times.

PAT LILE Little Rock