“It” Begins at Home

Is it just ME, or do you, too, love a feel-good, “good-for-you” story?

I’m smiling ear-to-ear right now having just heard the story about Cindy and Mark Hill, Deer Born, Missouri, USA.

The Hills were the lucky winners of a recent lottery and shared the record-breaking jackpot of 588 million dollars!  Congrats!

Would I be wrong to assume that you, like me, have imagined winning a lottery and planning what you would do with the winnings?  (You have, right; it’s not just me on that one!)  Well, whether the Hills ever pre-planned how they’d spend their winnings, they are certainly busy spending – make that SHARING – it now.

They have already bought land to build a new water waste and septic system for Camden Point, MIssouri, USA,  Mark Hill’s hometown and where he still has family.  They are rebuilding the town fire station and moving it to the current baseball field, which, in turn, they will rebuild on a new parcel, a safer parcel, further from the road.  The local high school is also the beneficiary of their generosity.

OK!  It’s likely most of us are not going to win the lottery and share 588 million dollars (but we should never give up the hope!) and we may not be able to grant such lofty gifts upon our hometown, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do something.

SO, DO SOMETHING!

 

A kind word, a donation to the local food pantry, taking time to listen to someone, volunteering for a good cause …..these are just as small handful of things that just about all of us can do.  The really great thing is we often get back so much more than we give.  Talk about ROI!  Who wouldn’t bank on that kind of return on investment?

When asked about the family’s good fortune, Cindy Hill replied that for some reason God put this in their hands and they knew they were meant to do something for others with it. 

From all reports, the Hills have always been community minded givers.   IT DOESN’T TAKE MILLIONS!   If you wait for such a landfall, you will have missed so many opportunities along the way; we are all too smart to do that!

From the pictures, it seems the Hills have also been blessed with a large family. Is there any better form of parenting than leading by example; I think not.  Their children are learning incredibly valuable life-lessons from this opportunity; my hope is that they learn it well and as they move forward, they remember to pay it back.  A great lesson that is never too late to learn.

So, IS it just me, or are you, too, so happy that such great fortune landed on the doorstep of a family who knows what to do with it?  Congrats to the folks of Camden Point and Deer Born – you won the lottery, too.

                                                              You won the Hill family.

 

Here’s a gift we can all give to another…

Just have a good thought for them!

(I’m having one for you!)