The impact of a bean burrito
When our family was homeless, me and my other siblings would go to the Boys and Girls Club while my parents worked during the day. Because we didn't have any money, my mom would make bean burritos for us kids to take for lunch.
She would make them with beans, cheese and tortillas. They weren't fast food or the chicken nuggets or some kids have, but we were okay with them as kids.
One day we were playing sports with the others kids there at the Boys and Girls and Club. As we breaked for lunch, we sat with some of the other kids who we had gotten to know. Two of the kids were two brothers - both skinny kids, both going through a hardship like we were.
As we pulled out our bean burritos for lunch, they looked at us with eager faces and exclaimed "those look good!" Trying to make polite conversation, we asked "What did you guys bring for lunch?"
"Nothing" they responded.
Immediately, we all felt bad. We didn't have enough burritos for them that day, so we asked if they wanted us to ask our mom if she could make extras for them.
"Oh man, that would be awesome!!" they said. So that evening we asked our mom if she would be able to make extra bean burritos for these tow brothers. Our mom being the awesome mom she is, made plenty of extras for us and we took them with us the next day.
As we pulled out the neatly wrapped burritos, the boy's eye widened with excitement. They took the burritos in a hurry with "thank you!'s in between big bites.
"These burritos are the best burritos I've ever had!" said one brother.
As I look back on that scene in my life, It's a great feeling knowing that a couple of brothers felt "seen" and cared for. You don't have to spend thousands of dollars to make an impact on someone's life. You don't have to help thousands of people to impact the world. Change begins with that one person you know. It starts with what you have. Even if it's through the means of a simple bean burrito.