Lauren started an organization that has given food—and love—to thousands in need!
From the time she was a little girl, Lauren Puryear’s grandmother had taught her to give to others less fortunate. So when Lauren grew up, she became a social worker. Yet she still longed to do more . . .
As snow fell, Lauren Puryear made her way down the frozen trail. These woods weren’t far from her cozy home in Woodbridge, Virginia. Yet, they seemed a world away as Lauren passed a series of tents pitched by dozens of homeless people who had nowhere else to go.
As a graduate student in social work, Lauren had gone there to see what the folks there needed most. Suddenly, a young woman wrapped in tattered blankets came out, shivering. “Hello,” Lauren said. “Hi,” the woman replied meekly. And as they got to chatting, she opened up. “I’ve worked so many jobs. I tried to follow my dreams. But my dreams were shattered.” And, clutching her stomach, she admitted she hadn’t eaten in days.
“Most of us here haven’t,” she said.
As tears sprang into her eyes already stinging from the wind, Lauren thought, Nobody deserves to suffer like this!
Feeding hearts and souls
Immediately, Lauren went and bought a bunch of rotisserie chickens, a sack of rice and several cans of vegetables—all with money from her own pocket.
When she handed a plate to a man who lived in a tent there, his smile lit up his face.
“I had several deaths in my life, then I got sick myself, and I lost my job, my home, my wife— everything,” he told Lauren. “But you made me feel important again.”
“Thank you!” the folks there said over and over, many with tears of gratitude in their eyes as they devoured their first hot meal in nearly a week. And just then, a thought of her grandmother, Marion, flashed into Lauren’s mind.
“Nana had a heart of gold,” Lauren recalls. So every Sunday, after the whole family gathered around Marion’s Paterson, New Jersey, table for dinner, they delivered the leftovers to a nearby shelter. When Lauren and her cousins outgrew their clothes, they’d bring those, too. And when they no longer played with a toy or game, Marion would say, “You know, there’s another child who’d love that . . . ” Now, after Lauren visited “Tent City,” Marion was the first person she told. “I know why you always did what you did, Nana. It felt so good to make a difference by feeding these folks!” “I’m so proud of you,” Marion beamed.
Sadly, though, soon after, Marion passed away.
How will I go on without you? Lauren wept. Heartbroken, she longed for some way to honor Nana’s life.
Nana was always giving. Always teaching the importance of helping others, she thought. And so, Lauren created For the Love of Others (Fortheloveofothers.net) a nonprofit organization to provide a helping hand to the hungry.
Food for the soul
With the help of donations and “extreme couponing,” Lauren began stocking up on food.
When Lauren saw a story online about a struggling mom of two named Leslie, she put together a basket of sandwiches and some plates of spaghetti and meatballs and dropped them off.
“All of this is for us?” Leslie marveled, her voice breaking. “You’re like our fairy godmother!” And since then, Lauren has continued to be, bringing Leslie’s boys school supplies and gifts at Christmas.
For Rodney, who is currently homeless, living on the streets has ravaged his spirits. Whenever he sees Lauren pulling up, though, his heart warms—not just because of the delicious meals she brings, but because she talks to him and listens.
“Things got so rough at one point I considered suicide,” he admits. “But having someone who cares . . . it gives me hope.”
Another mom who lost her husband in a car accident was working three jobs yet still could barely afford to feed her three kids.
“You got us through a really rough time,” she wept, wrapping her arms around Lauren when she delivered bags of groceries. “To step up and do all this with a willing heart . . . thank you!”
Today, Lauren has helped more than 5,000 people, serving more than 20,000 meals from New York to Georgia now with her five-yearold son, Isaiah, as her helper. Yet she never forgets the angel who inspired her.
“Nana Marion believed loving others was serving the world, and now that’s my motto, too,” Lauren says. “Because a little hope and kindness can make a big difference. And if we all just spread a little more love around, the world can be such a better place!”
“Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate.” ALAN D. WOLFELT