This is good stuff we all need to hear during times like these. So I will share my favorite story about how PEOPLE make miracles happen.
Through our church and a partnership with a local non-profit, we would field teams of church members to go help very poor residents repair their homes. We have some skill workers, but mostly white collar finance types. Teams of 5-10 for a full 8 hour day in nearby towns.
Hurricane Sandy dropped an enormous oak tree in the front lawn of a small house in a working class neighborhood. It blocked the driveway and walkway to the house. The owners were very senior and both very unwell. Their adult children lived there too, but had their own issues. Nobody had the money to remove the tree. It sat there for over a year before we were asked if we could handle it.
We said we would remove as much as we could but were short handed and did not have a chainsaw blade long enough to cut up the bottom 20 feet or so. Also,we did not have equipment to remove the rounds that were 5' across.
We set to work. Just 7 of us. A couple of the younger ones (including my daughter) started posting pics on instagram, FB, whatever. Soon a couple cars and a pickup show up. We are up to 12 people now. We now have another chain saw, mauls, wedges, sledges.
I notice as cars go by, they are slowing, taking notice, returning. Neighbors are coming out, looking, walking by. They start asking "what's going on?". The more people that are hanging around, the more people that are stopping, parking asking questions. Pretty soon, random neighborhood people -- who drove by that downed tree for over a year -- are pulling up with serious equipment -- a big splitter, a big chainsaw, big forearms and coolers full of beer and water. And music. Food. Then a trailer. Then more people. Over the course of the day, we must have had 30 people from the neighborhood pitching in. They were hauling wood 15 miles back to our church and stacking it for our Fall bonfire. All sweaty. All smiles.
So yeah, 7 people with gloves and a 20" Stihl cut, split and removed ~15 cords of wood that day. It was one of the most inspirational days of my life to see a community come together like that one Saturday in June. People make the miracles big and small.