Phillip Biber:
“As a volunteer who is delivering fulfillment of a dire need to a family in crisis; I am receiving something that we are all in dire need of ourselves. It’s a need to make a difference and understand life beyond the walls of self-interest.
On Saturday morning I visited with Lillian and Elijah in Miami. They are currently staying near Jackson Hospital at Ronald McDonald House. Elijah’s mother is totally blind and unable to work due to the full-time responsibility she has to care for her son who is receiving chemotherapy. Her son is also blind in one eye and wheelchair bound. You would think that people in this situation would be moody, unpleasant, and distraught. After all, what are the chances of being blind, caring for a son with cancer who has now lost vision in one of his eyes and being economically destitute? We had a wonderful time together and this mother and son were beyond gracious and pleasant. What a team the two of them are. A mother helping a son with his adversity while the son provides his mother the visual help to function with her own disability.
As a volunteer who is delivering fulfillment of a dire need to a family in crisis; I am receiving something that we are all in dire need of ourselves. It’s a need to make a difference and understand life beyond the walls of self-interest. We are witnessing amazing acts of selfless love. Families that have given everything to help their children. Families on the brink of poverty relinquishing every material possession to save their children. This is true reality; not a “reality show” but life at its utter core and I am privileged to be a witness to it. We are all in dire need to be exposed to love beyond that of ourselves and possessions. To see it and begin to understand it is a life changing experience and one that transfers the notion of being a volunteer to being a happy participant and witness to some of the greatest acts of love the world will never see.
