About 16 years ago this December, a perfect stranger once reached out a helping hand to me when I least expected it to happen. A kind gesture from a man who stopped me in a department store with my wife, who was pregnant, and our newborn in the basket. He handed me a card in an envelope, thanked me for my service, and wished us a Merry Christmas. We thanked him and he smiled and walked away. We did not open the card until later, thinking it was a  message from a local church or something of that nature. But what was inside was a message of hope. That we were not alone in the world and everyone would be alright if we just kept the faith. I don’t remember the exact words, but that was the message I received. There was a hundred dollars in with the card. At the time, this was a considerable amount of money for us. We couldn’t pay to fix the heat, we all slept in my bedroom with an electric heater that winter. 

The idea that somebody took time out of their day to write a message of hope, package it with care and go looking for somebody to give it to that looked like they could use a little bit of help has stuck with me to this day. We try to pay it forward whenever the opportunity presents itself and every time I do, I always think of that man and his simple kindness to us and how that kindness has rippled through my life and impacted others. 

This is what I think about when I heard about this One More Day project. If a simple gesture of hope had such an effect on me, maybe it could do the same others. I hope this project is successful because we could all use something that reminds us that we are not alone.