Where you 'raised' to give unselfishly?

How's this for inspiration: she's an unemployed mother of seven children (three of which are toddlers) and yet just about every week, she finds time and scarce resources to give to the city's homeless.  If you don't know her story, she is Althea Guiboche who, in the city of Winnipeg, Canada is better known as 'The Bannock Lady '.  Like some of you, I too was wondering, the 'who' lady.  But yes you've read it right. Bannock is a type of unleavened flat bread or biscuit that is made with either oatmeal or barley and it's said to be quite the tasty treat.

Sometimes we go through life wishing for more of any and everything. More money, more friends, more gadgets, more children (okay maybe not the children part) but we often want more, more, more. Here's a lady who wants more so that she can give more. She doesn't actively solicit financial contributions but would prefer people to donate ingredients to make more bannock and more soup to feed more people in need.  Even after the city tried to stop her benevolent acts because they 'didn't conform to city standards', a few good-willed friends stepped in to help her cause.  She teamed up with an organization called 'chili from the heart' ran by Darlene and Craig Phillips and together they fed even more people. I was so moved by Darlene's emotional words intimating that "… the need is here … these people need help, they really need help. I mean it's easy for someone to turn around and say oh why don't they go get a job. Well how do you get a job when you've got no address, no phone number, no clothes - you've got nothing. All they want is a meal and some socks. I mean you give them a pair of socks and you'd think you've given them the world."

Interestingly, even as I see this story as such an awesome display of kindness and generosity, the Bannock Lady doesn't see what she's doing as anything special. She sums it up to "that's how I was raised". What an inspiring story! More of us need to be 'raised' that way. Follow her story at http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/got-bannock-gives-bread-in-winnipeg-for-a-year/.