*”…and a little child will lead them.” Isaiah 11 : 6
I’m not one to quote scripture at the drop of a hat, but that one just dropped into my head. Will somebody say “Amen!”
Most of us are hard-wired to think about what we can GET for our birthdays. This doll I’m about to tell you about is showing us how it should be done.
Armani Crews was preparing for her sixth birthday. While most of her kindergartener peers would have been looking forward to a celebration with their friends, she told her mom she wanted to feed the homeless instead. She’d one day watched her older brother give leftovers to a homeless man, and a seed had been planted.
While her mom thought the request was different, she went along with it, and told Armani that they could hand out sandwiches. Armani thought they could do better than that, and told her mom she wanted to serve exactly what she’d have had at her own party.
It’s at about that point of the story when I began associating the word “angel” with little Armani.
When Armani’s dad started adding up the financial cost of implementing his daughter’s plan, he told her that if she did that, she wouldn’t get any presents for her birthday.
Armani’s reply will melt your heart.
“That’s okay. As long as they can eat, I’m fine,” she said.
It was then that her family began to act on Armani’s vision.
Armani’s plan soon spread via social media, and the Crews family’s friends and coworkers quickly starting donating. The family prepared all of Armani’s favorite dishes: chicken, spaghetti, pizza, and mashed potatoes. They assembled care packages with items that many of us take for granted but are needed by our homeless neighbors, like toothbrushes, toothpaste, and deodorant.
When Armani’s big day arrived, she wore a pretty tiara and a prettier smile as she and a group of volunteers handed out hot meals and care packages to about 125 people, who waited in a line that wrapped around the block.
Armani’s mother was among those who were moved by the event, and plans to host more food drives like the one they held on her daughter’s sixth birthday.
“One man told us that he hadn’t had a hot meal in a long time, ” Armani Crews said. As I read that line while I was eating my bagel with cream cheese, I teared up.
“It was a beautiful thing to see and a blessing. We take a lot for granted. If we help each other, we’ll be okay.”
We’ll be ok.
Thanks, Armani dear, for reminding us that we’ll be ok, and of the truth of a phrase we’ve all heard: it’s more blessed to give than to receive.
That’s Acts 20:35. Maybe I’m more prone to dropping scripture than I thought!
If you were at all moved by this story, let us know in the comments, share this story on social media, and above all help someone that needs your help today. Let’s do it for Armani, for our communities and families, for ourselves.
Thank you — and make it a great day!
This was written by freelancer Michael P Coleman. Connect with him at michaelpcoleman.com or on Twitter: @ColemanMichaelP
