Stories by foodbankcarlisa (16 matches)

Flowers To The Rescue!

As an Insurance Agent I have to visit clients at their homes to collect their insurance premiums. I had an elderly client named Ms. Gooden. She is a sweet lady and always does her best to keep me at her home as long as she can. One day as I was leaving, she told me about the flowers she wished she had in her yard. She said that when she was growing up the only flowers she could remember seeing were the ones pictured on the large flour sacks. I asked her, "if you had flowers what colors would you have?" She answered me back in a sad voice that any color would be beautiful to her. One day when I knew she had a doctor's appointment I went to a nursery and bought many colorful and beautiful flowers. I went to her home and planted them in an area of ... Read Full Story >>

3166 Reads

Priceless friendship from a five dollar microwave

One day I was driving by an apartment complex and an elderly lady flagged me down. I pulled over and asked if she needed a ride somewhere. She told me no and then asked me if I needed a microwave. I said, "no"...and asked why? She told me she had one for sale for just five dollars. Curious to find out what her situation was, I asked her to let me see it. The microwave looked like new and was worth a lot more than five bucks. I asked her what she needed the money for. What she told me broke my heart. She said she wanted some bologna, bananas and bread. I told her I would buy it but I needed to go to the bank for the money. I rushed to the grocery store and bought her bananas, bologna and bread. When I returned to her apartment I gave her the ... Read Full Story >>

3011 Reads

Yard Sale Blessing

I passed by a yard sale and decided to stop and see what the lady was selling. The woman selling her belongings began to tell me about how hard times were for her. She was an elderly lady with numerous health problems.

I wanted so much to buy something from her because I could tell she was having a hard time financially. I was expecting to spend a few dollars until she mentioned to me that she had to take gas out of her sister's lawnmower to put in her car to get to the yard sale location. That broke my heart.

At that moment I knew I had to do all I could to help her. I asked her what all of her stuff would be worth that she was trying to sell to which she replied " $75.00."

I gave her the money and asked her to donate the items that she did not want to Goodwill. She began to cry and thanked me ever so much. That made my day. It felt good to be able to help her out.



 

2776 Reads

Best Stop On The Way Home

After work one day I decided to take a meal to an elderly lady on my way home. While sitting and visiting with her, she began to tell me it was her birthday. I wished her a happy birthday and asked what she had gotten for her birthday. She told me that she was so happy to say that she had received the best birthday present she could ever get and that was a hot meal. I asked her how old she was and she told me she was 83 years young. I reached in my apron pocket and pulled out all the money I had made in my little restaurant that day and asked her to help me count it. She was happy to do so...she got a real kick out of counting the money. She said she had not seen that much money in a very long time. She ... Read Full Story >>

1956 Reads

From Brewton, Al To Cleveland, Tn

Bonita and Thomas passed through Brewton today with their shopping cart. I took the opportunity to stop and talk to them. They were on their way to Tennessee from Miami. They looked sunburned and worn. My friend Ruby and I took them to Huddle House and fed them. We helped them as much as we could with a few dollars and snacks. I asked them how they had been treated so far on their trip...they said Brewton had been the kindest place so far. Way to go Brewton, AL!. They were in a hurry to get back on the road so they could find a place to sleep before night. When I made it home and told my husband...it bothered him so much that people were sleeping in the woods on the ground with snakes crawling that we drove down highway 31 north until we found them...they had already set their ... Read Full Story >>

1896 Reads

Wood For Her Heater

One day my husband and I passed by a house where we noticed an elderly woman picking up sticks from her yard. We slowed down and asked if she needed help. She told us she was picking up sticks to burn in her wood stove.

We asked around the neighborhood and was told that the man who usually delivered her wood for her stove had died. My husband and I went home and found some wood we could chop to give to her. When we took it back later that day, she was so happy. Her voice shook as she told us thanks. It made me and my husband very happy to be able to do it.

We told her we would furnish her with wood for her heater. She told us God would bless us. We told her He already does. As you can see she lives meagerly and we are going to try and help her with that also. Pray for us all. This story only goes to show that we can all do something to help someone. Thank you.

1760 Reads

Grocery store ripples come back around

I run a community kitchen so as you can well imagine I stay in the grocery store all the time. Most of my shopping is done early morning before I go to work. One Wednesday morning I noticed a lot of good sales were going on so I decided to buy quite a few items to take advantage of the savings. The next day I visited the same store in the afternoon and when I got to the cashier she turned out to be a local college student that I knew.  After she added my groceries and I paid her my change was $10.48 I told her to keep it as I knew she was having a hard time. Suddenly, I heard my name being called by the lady in customer service asking me to come to her window for a moment.  I went over and she handed me $17.13 and told me ... Read Full Story >>

1749 Reads

Ten Years In The Making

This year my husband and I started a project that has been dear to our hearts for years. We started the remodeling project on a new Free Restaurant called Drexell & Honeybee. This will be a free restaurant to all who come in. We will not have a cash register or make change. We will have a donation area for people do donate if they wish. It will be set up where when you go into the booth no one can tell if you donated or not.

This restaurant will serve fresh, home cooked meals five days a week. It will also deliver meals on wheels in the community. It will be run by volunteers only. We are so proud to be working on this project. We feel that it doesn't matter what you had to eat yesterday or what you may have to eat tomorrow, but only about what you don't have to eat today.
 

1738 Reads

Sharing My Good Fortune With A Coworker

Recently I was shopping in the local Walmart where I ran into a former coworker. We started talking about old times when we worked together at the store. Looking at her I could sense that she was not in the best of health so I asked, "when are you going to retire?" She told me with tears in her eyes that she had retired but had to come back to work because she couldn't make ends meet with her retirement income. I told her how sorry I was and left the store. A week later, I was fortunate to have a little extra cash and I was looking for someone to share it with. It wasn't a ton of money but it was more than what I had and I wanted to show my thanks by giving a bit of it to someone else. I was shopping at Walmart again and ... Read Full Story >>

1638 Reads

My heart met the challenge

While delivering meals one day I was really put to the test. The first house I delivered to was owned by a sweet elderly woman named Ms A. It was about 10:30 in the morning when I knocked on her door.  When she asked me to come in I could tell by her voice something was wrong. When I opened her door she was sitting on the sofa crying. She didn't have to tell me I could see she had soiled herself. I have to tell you it was not something I wanted to deal with but I had to make a decision not only for me but for Ms. A.   I didn't want her to feel any more ashamed than she did so I knew that I would have to clean her up. I kept assuring her it was ok but she was so ashamed...I did all I could to assure ... Read Full Story >>

1573 Reads

Firecracker!

One morning when I was delivery groceries to a woman I noticed a puppy in her yard. He was suffering with a horrible case of mange. I asked her if he was her puppy and she said yes. I asked what was wrong with him...she told me he had mange and there was nothing she could do about it...for lack of money. My heart broke as i watched him slowly trying to find some small amount of comfort. I asked her if she would mind if I tried to help him. I told her I would try to get something to help him. Instead of going to a regular store I went to the local animal doctor and told him what the dog looked like and he told me what I needed. When I returned to the woman's home I asked her if she would be sure to bath the puppy ... Read Full Story >>

1560 Reads

A cup of coffee and kindness to keep illness at bay

One morning while enjoying breakfast in my favorite restaurant two women came in and sat in the booth behind me. I overheard them talking about just leaving the pharmacy.

One of them went on to say how bad she was feeling and she didn't know when she was going to be feeling any better since there was no way she could get her prescription filled because she didn't have the money. 

I listened to them try to think of someway they could get the money. As I listened I learned the medicine cost $29. I called the waitress over and asked her to give the women $35 anonymously. Enough for the medicine and their coffee.

1557 Reads

God Uses Us To Change Others

Sitting in my favorite restaurant one day I noticed a man who came in...he looked unhappy and mad with the world...A look I had seen many times before. I gave him my usual happy good morning but his response was less than friendly. He looked at me, sat down and buried his head in the menu. I was not shocked by his response but I was curious if he would look up and give just a small hello or smile...over an hour passed and every time he looked my way...he looked meaner and meaner. Finally he called the waitress over and paid his bill...I turned my head away for just a second and he was gone. I looked down at his seat and there it was -  a beautiful rolled up $100 bill. I was in shock...I quickly got up to retrieve the cash...in my head Right and Wrong were fighting it out. ... Read Full Story >>

1467 Reads

Food Bank Bliss



We were blessed with an offer from a farmer that he would donate all the greens we could pick to the food bank we spent a few hours in a garden full of collards, turnips, kale and hybrid greens. After loaded up the truck we spent the rest of the day in the community giving out fresh greens. It was a blessing all the way around.. God bless farmers and what they grow.

1403 Reads

A food bank owner's wish for a young boy

I run a small thrift store to help support our small food bank. A mother stopped by with her ten year old son and asked if we could help her family out with a few groceries. I said yes and gathered up several bags of groceries for her.

When I returned to her vehicle where her son was, I asked if he could go into the food bank and select a few of his favorite foods. She said yes. He chose his favorite cereal and fruit roll ups. 

I wanted to make his visit special and even though we had made only $32.00 in the thrift store that day I gave him $20.00 of it. I asked him to surprise his mother and buy her and his lunch on the way home. I wanted him to remember this day as more than a trip to the food bank. I wanted him to be blessed with the possibility of acting on this moment for the rest of his life. 

1233 Reads

A Check To Fight Breast Cancer

Recently my friend, Ruby, and I were sitting in our favorite hangout. We were enjoying a meal when a young woman approached our table. Her name was Melinda. As she joined us, she returned a check that Ruby had given her because her name was wrongly spelled and she could not cash it. While sitting there and watching the two of them, I noticed the young lady looked frail and nervous.   After she left I asked Ruby who she was and what it was all about. Ruby told me that Melinda had Breast Cancer and she had given her a small donation to help to pay her health insurance for the month of May, which was $557. I asked how Melinda could afford that much for insurance. Ruby told me that Melinda only had two more months to pay that amount and then the price would considerably go down. I didn't have much money ... Read Full Story >>

795 Reads



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