CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME

When I was about 12 my parents got a call in the middle of the night. The Streebe family from northern Utah somewhere had broken down in Page. They had six kids with them and no way to get their car fixed and no money to stay in a motel. So, they came to stay with the DeWitt family. They stayed for three or four days (I have always suspected that Dad paid to get their car fixed). My parents did everything they could to make this large family feel comfortable. The funny part of the story is that every so often the leaders of our church would ask a family to live on their food storage for a month....and it just so happened that it was our month. The thing I remember most is that this other family drank all of our milk. Mom and Dad wouldn't let us tell them that we were rationing the milk and our other supplies. They just made them feel welcome.

The Stanfords have a friend named Royd Despain. Several times since Tracy and I have been married we have gotten calls at random times saying that he is just passing through town and needs a place to stay. We have ALWAYS seen that he has a bed and a meal. It's how we were raised.

I also remember that whenever my grandparents came to visit that Mom and Dad would give up their nice, comfortable bed and my grandparents would have Mom and Dad's room for as long as they stayed.

My father would always feed the hungry. He gave most of the left over chicken from the KFC to the drunks, so that they could have at least one good meal once in a while. He would put on dinners for the entire church, at his expense, to raise money whenever the Bishop asked.

My father loaned money to Fred Jessop, a contractor in Page, several times. Most times it got paid back....sometimes it didn't. The weird thing about this is that Fred is now the "Leader" of the polygamous compound in Texas that was in the news so much last year. ICK! I asked Dad once why he would lend him the money and Dad always said "we're rich, so we help others." I now know that wasn't true, we weren't rich in financial ways, but, I do believe that through my parents selfless acts of kindness our family as a whole was rich in many ways.

I have tried throughout my life to follow my parents example. Tracy and I have taken in a few of the boys friends that had no where to go. We couldn't do much. We just saw that they had a bed to sleep in, food in their stomachs and a place to call home for as long as they needed. I don't tell this part to pat myself on the back, just to show that I had good examples growing up and have always tried to "pay it forward" in my life. We have provided summer jobs, housing etc. whenever asked. It's how we were raised.

They just don't make people like my Mom and Dad any more.