Good News FL

s (continued on page 24) This monthly feature is an ongoing conversation with com- munity leaders who are impacting South Florida in profound ways. We’d like you to get acquainted with each other and what better way than to engage in the kind of discussions you might have over a cup of coffee. In keeping with our pur- suit to bring attention to good in the world, Good News Wants to Know... What's the most unique act of kind- ness you've witnessed? One of the more unique acts of kind- ness I've witnessed was when a friend and I were driving to help serve Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless. At the I-95 exit, we invited one more guy to join us. After the meal, my friend paid for a hotel room for our guest and in the morning picked him up, took him to the bus terminal and bought a ticket for him to go to Ft. Meyers to visit his family. - Deborah Cusick, Intervarsity Chris- tian Fellowship FAU Campus Volunteer The most unique act of kindness I’ve witnessed has to be when a man took some of the money he saved for his kids college and gave it to another college student who needed it more. That was very unique. - Arthur Connor, Pastor, Metro Baptist Church When I was in Graduate school at Syracuse University, my wife Gloria and I were rubbing the date and the inscriptions off pennies to get through. Here we were having dinner with our three sons, who were 4, 3 and 2 at that time. Someone anonymously covered our entire tab for our dinner. - Bernard King, Sr., Pastor, Cornerstone Bible Fellowship This one time my roommate Ryan brought a homeless guy home to stay with us for the night. Ryan gave this guy his bed and ended up sleeping on the floor in my room. He ended up doing this for about 4 years. - Bob Denison, President, Denison Yacht Sales Honestly as a sinner, once in pursuit of all the wrong things, Jesus' willingness to die for me, and save my soul was the kindest, selfless and most important thing I have ever witnessed. - Charles Bender, President, Place of Hope The most unique act of kindness has to be the extremely generous gifts that my uncle, Father John Mericantante, received when endeavoring to build a new church in the tiny Palm Beach County Town of Pahokee. He received an anony- mous gift of $1 million that turned out to be a longtime neighbor of his mother who pledged a large portion of her retirement. Another generous donor to this Catholic Priest was a very generous Jewish man who believed in this priest’s mission, giv- ing him $1 million as well. Finally, when a nail technician who loved what he was building made an equally generous donation of $50,000 we knew that there was a higher power at work here. - Chip LaMarca, Broward County Commissioner, District 4 Somebody’s car got totaled and somebody else, without being asked, bought them a brand new one. - Daryl Nelson, Pastor, Calvary Chapel of the Palm Beaches The most unique act of kindness I've witnessed was visiting a successful busi- ness professional who was incarcerated at a federal prison. As his pastor, he confided in me his most desired request ... that his wife and kids would be watched over as he served his time. He wanted his family to be cared for and visited by those that would love on them even though his reputation and family name was sure to be scared due to his impending conviction. - Dennis DeMarois, Director, The Gather Palm Beach County Most recently I witnessed a staff of God-loving coworkers quickly raise a large amount of money from their own pockets to give to another staff member who had a serious health complication, but not enough PTO (paid time off) to cover the time needed for recovery. And yet, the suffering coworker has a family to support. They hardly batted eyelashes before the money was on the table. Wow. God’s people rock! - Dolores King-St. George, Station Manager, WRMB 89.3 Moody Radio An elderly man came into the Banyan Air passenger terminal to catch his plane. He was not feeling well and it was a long walk from the reception counter to his aircraft on the ramp. Almost without thinking Banyan teammates went onto the ramp and got a golf cart, brought it in the front entrance of the building right up to the reception desk and drove the elderly customer through the lobby right to the steps of his awaiting aircraft. Wow, that one is not in our policy manual! - Don Campion, President, Banyan Air When Joe Petit, a Deacon at our church, donated a kidney for Tom DeRosa, the head of Creation Studies Institute, I still regard this as the most significant act of kindness and a testimony of faith leading to action. - Representative George Moraitis, Florida House of Representatives, District 93 Two summers ago, our best friend's 23 yr. old son was involved in a boat explo- sion and was severely burned from his neck down. He was in Ryder Trauma Burn Center for 3 months in critical condition. Our community came together, s s s s s s s s s Arthur Connor Bernard King, Sr. Bob Denison Charles Bender Chip LaMarca Daryl Nelson Wants to Know… - Deborah Cusick, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship FAU Campus Volunteer