The Harolds, a family of martial artists, demonstrated community leadership at its best as they quietly went about collecting food for The Lord’s Pantry.
Over the last month this team of father and his two sons set up collection baskets and visited their neighbors in an effort to collect non-perishable foodstuffs. According to Mr. Harold the drive was a great success, ending with far more food than they had anticipated.
“We ended our food drive on New Year’s Eve and drove them to the Lord’s Pantry that afternoon. We collected 453 separate items, mostly canned foods, but also dry soup mix, instant puddings, Jello, peanut butter and jams and jellies. As for a weight, it was extremely difficult to get on our bathroom scale, but as close as we could add up, the whole collection weighed in at just over 382 lbs. (Give or take a can of green beans or two).” - Mr. Harold
More important for Mr. Harold and his boys, they witnessed something they had not believed still existed in our world today. Generosity.
“Most importantly, like we told Mrs. Myers, we witnessed an enormous amount of giving from many charitable people in our community, people happy to help a good cause, and learned a great deal about our neighbors.” - Mr. Harold
What started as a Black Belt Project for this family from Pilsung ATA Martial Arts has become something greater for the family and community.
“There is talk in our house that this will become a yearly tradition, and we also have begun collecting used toys which according to the woman we spoke to at The Lord’s Pantry they could use anytime.”-Mr. Harold
This family of martial artists has not only started off 2012 right for the food pantry, they have given us all a great picture of what community leadership should look like in the New Year. Their effort should serve as inspiration for all of us as we set our goals for our year.
Comments