The Folded Napkin

A girlfriend sent me this email. It is a sweet and beautiful story and many of you have probably already seen the email from someone else. It is the story of Stevie. He may be a real or fictional character, but the story can be true for many people. The story goes that Stevie, a young man with downs syndrome was hired to be a busboy at a truck stop. Stevie was a good and dedicated worker. In 3 years he never missed a day. But it came to pass that because of Stevie's down syndrome he needed to have surgery on his heart. Of course all of his co-workers had come to dearly love the sweet, kind and dedicated young man. And when they found out that his surgery went well and that he'd be back to work in a couple of months, one of his co-workers - a grandmother - did a jazzy jig. One of the many truckers who frequented this truck stop all knew Stevie and were wondering where he had been. The waitress told the truckers at her table that Stevie just had heart surgery and is doing good and should be able to come to work in a couple of months. And she mentioned that she was worried about how Stevie and his mom were going to make it, because the were barely making it now, and now they had medical bills on top of it all. Then the waitress went to her other tables and work took over her mind. A short while later she approached the manager of the truck stop and showed him something, it was a napkin, folded, holding 3 $20 bills. It seems that the word had gone around the truck stop and all the waitress' were finding napkins with the word's For Stevie on them with money inside. On the day Stevie was finally able to come back to work the truck stop manager went and picked him and his mother up and said he was going to treat them to a welcome back breakfast. He took them to a large round table in the corner and all over the table was coffee cups setting kind of crookedly on napkins. The truck stop manager told Stevie he had to clean it up before they could eat, and of course Stevie got right to it. It was then he and his mother realized that there was money in those napkins. Over $10,000 from the truckers and their companies and other customers.

By the time I was done reading the whole story I had tears running down my face.

Now to me the point of this story is giving is a good thing. But we all know that, but what a lot of us don't realize is that while we believe that giving is a good thing, how often do we really do it? My friend Lupe, is working this week at a burn camp for children. Her job isn't glamorous, she is working in the kitchen, but she is giving of herself. I know her candle has a little extra glow now.

I know a lot of us don't have a lot of money, but you'd be surprised what $5 will do for someone. If there is someone you know in your neighborhood, say an elderly person who doesn't get around very well, maybe you and your neighbors could take turns doing the shopping and yard work. It wouldn't take a great deal of time out of our lives to give some. And if everyone got on the bandwagon, just think of how our combined efforts will become a big deal for that person.

And in giving we will receive rewards, the joy in our hearts of seeing someone taken care of in the manner they require.

So the next time you have your ladies lunch, or your after golf cocktail, maybe instead of rehashing old business, find something that needs to be done and organize yourselves to do it. If 1/3 of the people on this planet were to give 30 minutes of their time or $5 out of their pocket, I truly believe we could make a great dent in what needs to be done on our community level.