The Helping Hams StoryThis is a true story that happened on November 25th 2020 at a small grocery store in central Utah. This story is how the Helping Hams project came to be. |
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In an effort to try and help a few people in my little corner of the world during the holidays, the last 4 years I would go to our small local grocery store and buy 7-8 hams. I would then walk around the store and look for people that I think might need one and drop it in their shopping cart, along with the receipt showing it was paid for, and wish them a happy holiday. Well, last Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving) I invited my 9 year old son, Lincoln, to go with me this time. In the past I'd always hoped that my small act would truly find someone that needed it and could make a small difference to them. So on the way over I said a short, simple little prayer in my mind. "Lord, please let me find someone that needs our help tonight". That was it, nothing huge, nothing grand. We then drove to the store. As we were entering the store I started looking for people that might need one of our gifts. Trying hard not to judge people by their appearance (which is extremely hard to do when you are looking for someone in need), I saw a lady in green pants entering the store at the same time. I noticed her car was pretty old, her coat was pretty worn and the food I later saw in her cart was pretty simple. So I made a mental note to try and find her to see if she could use one of our hams/turkeys. Well, we got in to the store and we bought the hams and a couple of turkeys. We then proceeded to look for people to give them to (I assure you it's not easy). One elderly lady that I was sure could have use a ham even told my son NO! I think she thought he was trying to sell her a ham or something like that, lol.
Anyway, as we continued to walk around the store I kept looking for the lady in green pants. I finally spotted her as she was headed towards the exit. As we caught up to them I gave my son a ham and said, go give that lady by the door this ham. He obviously didn't understand me because instead of giving it to the lady in green, he gave it to an elderly lady instead. She graciously accepted it and said thanks to me and my son. However, I was so focused on giving a ham to the lady in green that I didn't spend much time talking to the elderly lady. I hurried up to the lady in green and asked her if she could use a ham/turkey. She looked at me funny at first, but then say, "yes I could, thank you so much". Thinking that maybe this year I had actually found someone that my gift made a difference to, I walked back into the store feeling pretty good and started looking for someone else.
Well, as we were walking around the store we again ran into the elderly lady that my son had given the ham to earlier. She came up to me and took my hand. When I looked at her she was crying and tears were were in here eyes. She thanked me again, and this time I was able to spend a bit more time talking to her. She then said something that shook me, and has literally changed me...It also broke my heart...even as I write this I can still feel the emotions of it. She took my hand in both of hers, look at me as if looking through me and said, I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am. I came to the store to buy a few things for our dinner tomorrow, but I have no meat in my house and no money to buy any, this will make our dinner so nice and so special tomorrow. I was speechless; I had no idea what to say. All I could think to say was "you're welcome". Because of Covid and her being elderly, I didn't give her a hug, although I probably should have and definitely wanted to. She continued to thank me several more times and I just held her hand for a few more seconds, said you are most welcome and wished her a happy Thanksgiving. PRAYER ANSWERED!!
Since that moment I have thought about this nice lady a thousand times. I have run that experience through my mind more times than I can count, and now I wished that I would have somehow done more for this poor lady.
The next day as I was at our thanksgiving dinner and seeing the absolute abundance of food, family, love, and freedoms I enjoy I realized I had to do more. I had to do more than give away a couple of hams. I couldn't just sit here any longer. Like most of us, we are all willing to help; the hard part is who, what or where. What can we do to make a difference in the world. It's almost overwhelming to think about. The fact is that most of us can't make a difference to the world, we can't solve world hunger or world peace. So what can I do then? So many times I have asked that questions, and because I couldn't make some huge difference, I did nothing.
As I have been thinking about this the past 4 days I realize what the answer is. It might be true that I can't change the world, maybe not even my state, or county, but I can make a difference to a few people in my community. So that is what I am going to do.
When I got home my son told my wife about what happened and she said, "that ham really helped her". Yes it did. It might have only been for one day, or even one meal, but it truly did make a difference. That is were my idea came from. So I am starting a project called "Helping Hams"
My goal is to raise money from people who want to help make a small difference. I am putting up the first $500 myself. My goal is to buy 200+ hams between now and December 23nd. Then on that day we will set up a stand somewhere in our community, hopefully at a grocery store (I haven't gotten that figured out yet, but I will). We will then have this sign made (see picture at the top). We will then proceed to give a ham to anyone that is in need. We will also collect any donations people can or want to give. 100% of the proceeds will go towards buying additional hams that we can give away. I know this sounds like a simple idea, and it is. But I can assure you that the experience I had helping one older lady has changed my heart and I am convinced that if each of us will do "something" we can eventually make a larger difference. This is my attempt at doing that.
I need to raise about $3500 in order to buy 200 hams. If you have any funds left for the holidays please consider "Helping Hams". You can call or text me at 801-400-2296, DM me here on FB, or you can venmo me @devron-larson. If it's not in your budget to help, would you consider sharing this message to some people that might. Thank you!
We will post pictures and hopefully some more good stories after we are done. Thank you for taking the time to read this and to consider helping in any way you can.
Anyway, as we continued to walk around the store I kept looking for the lady in green pants. I finally spotted her as she was headed towards the exit. As we caught up to them I gave my son a ham and said, go give that lady by the door this ham. He obviously didn't understand me because instead of giving it to the lady in green, he gave it to an elderly lady instead. She graciously accepted it and said thanks to me and my son. However, I was so focused on giving a ham to the lady in green that I didn't spend much time talking to the elderly lady. I hurried up to the lady in green and asked her if she could use a ham/turkey. She looked at me funny at first, but then say, "yes I could, thank you so much". Thinking that maybe this year I had actually found someone that my gift made a difference to, I walked back into the store feeling pretty good and started looking for someone else.
Well, as we were walking around the store we again ran into the elderly lady that my son had given the ham to earlier. She came up to me and took my hand. When I looked at her she was crying and tears were were in here eyes. She thanked me again, and this time I was able to spend a bit more time talking to her. She then said something that shook me, and has literally changed me...It also broke my heart...even as I write this I can still feel the emotions of it. She took my hand in both of hers, look at me as if looking through me and said, I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am. I came to the store to buy a few things for our dinner tomorrow, but I have no meat in my house and no money to buy any, this will make our dinner so nice and so special tomorrow. I was speechless; I had no idea what to say. All I could think to say was "you're welcome". Because of Covid and her being elderly, I didn't give her a hug, although I probably should have and definitely wanted to. She continued to thank me several more times and I just held her hand for a few more seconds, said you are most welcome and wished her a happy Thanksgiving. PRAYER ANSWERED!!
Since that moment I have thought about this nice lady a thousand times. I have run that experience through my mind more times than I can count, and now I wished that I would have somehow done more for this poor lady.
The next day as I was at our thanksgiving dinner and seeing the absolute abundance of food, family, love, and freedoms I enjoy I realized I had to do more. I had to do more than give away a couple of hams. I couldn't just sit here any longer. Like most of us, we are all willing to help; the hard part is who, what or where. What can we do to make a difference in the world. It's almost overwhelming to think about. The fact is that most of us can't make a difference to the world, we can't solve world hunger or world peace. So what can I do then? So many times I have asked that questions, and because I couldn't make some huge difference, I did nothing.
As I have been thinking about this the past 4 days I realize what the answer is. It might be true that I can't change the world, maybe not even my state, or county, but I can make a difference to a few people in my community. So that is what I am going to do.
When I got home my son told my wife about what happened and she said, "that ham really helped her". Yes it did. It might have only been for one day, or even one meal, but it truly did make a difference. That is were my idea came from. So I am starting a project called "Helping Hams"
My goal is to raise money from people who want to help make a small difference. I am putting up the first $500 myself. My goal is to buy 200+ hams between now and December 23nd. Then on that day we will set up a stand somewhere in our community, hopefully at a grocery store (I haven't gotten that figured out yet, but I will). We will then have this sign made (see picture at the top). We will then proceed to give a ham to anyone that is in need. We will also collect any donations people can or want to give. 100% of the proceeds will go towards buying additional hams that we can give away. I know this sounds like a simple idea, and it is. But I can assure you that the experience I had helping one older lady has changed my heart and I am convinced that if each of us will do "something" we can eventually make a larger difference. This is my attempt at doing that.
I need to raise about $3500 in order to buy 200 hams. If you have any funds left for the holidays please consider "Helping Hams". You can call or text me at 801-400-2296, DM me here on FB, or you can venmo me @devron-larson. If it's not in your budget to help, would you consider sharing this message to some people that might. Thank you!
We will post pictures and hopefully some more good stories after we are done. Thank you for taking the time to read this and to consider helping in any way you can.
Update November 29th, 2020
The original post above was put on my facebook page at 7pm on Sunday November 29th, 2020. I had no idea how it would go, how it would be received, or if anyone would even pay attention to my idea. Sometimes when you put yourself out there, it can be a bit scary, and you hope that it is received in the manner in which you intended.
Not 3 minutes after posting the message above I received the first donation from a good friend and Colleague for $100. I thought wow that was fast. But I thought, well this person is a good friend and I have supported him in several charities that he has done, so maybe this was just a little payback. I wonder if anyone else will help.
OMGosh!! not more than a minute after that I received and another donation, then another, and another, and another, then more, and more and more. $100, $50, $10, $15, $25, $200, $300, $500, etc... My Venmo account was absolutely blowing up. People I hadn't seen or talked to in 10, 20, and even 30 years sent money, shared our post, recommended our project, called, sent texts, commented and volunteered other items to help. I was and still am completely shocked. I knew we lived in a great community and had great people, but this was so absolutely inspiring (many people outside of our small community helped to).
As mentioned above our goal was to collect $3500 total. Within less than 36 hours we had blown past our goal and had collected over $4000. I seriously could not believe it. It has absolutely restored my hope and faith that there are so many good people in this world, and more specifically in our small community.
It is now 10 days since I published the original post and we have collected over $4,800.
Not 3 minutes after posting the message above I received the first donation from a good friend and Colleague for $100. I thought wow that was fast. But I thought, well this person is a good friend and I have supported him in several charities that he has done, so maybe this was just a little payback. I wonder if anyone else will help.
OMGosh!! not more than a minute after that I received and another donation, then another, and another, and another, then more, and more and more. $100, $50, $10, $15, $25, $200, $300, $500, etc... My Venmo account was absolutely blowing up. People I hadn't seen or talked to in 10, 20, and even 30 years sent money, shared our post, recommended our project, called, sent texts, commented and volunteered other items to help. I was and still am completely shocked. I knew we lived in a great community and had great people, but this was so absolutely inspiring (many people outside of our small community helped to).
As mentioned above our goal was to collect $3500 total. Within less than 36 hours we had blown past our goal and had collected over $4000. I seriously could not believe it. It has absolutely restored my hope and faith that there are so many good people in this world, and more specifically in our small community.
It is now 10 days since I published the original post and we have collected over $4,800.
Update December 11th, 2020
As of today, we still have donations come in, I was at Walmart today and an old friend stopped me in the isle to say hi and said, "I was going to call you about helping hams because I wanted to donate", so she gave me $20. So as of today we have collected over $5,000. In addition to that, another very interesting thing happened as well. A former missionary companion of mine sent me a FB message and said he and a business partner own a food business of some type in Idaho, and wanted to participate in Helping Hams by donating 200 bags of potatoes to go along with the hams. Not only were they willing to donate the potatoes, my friend is going to load them in a truck and drive them down here. That is about a 10 round trip drive. I haven't seen or heard from this guy in 31 years and out of the blue we receive this amazing gift. People are incredible!!
Update December 12th, 2020
After my good friend Chuck donated the potatoes to us, I started thinking about what else I might be able to do besides just give out hams and potatoes. So I called the President of the grocery store chain and asked if I could set up our booth at their store on the 23rd. He said yes and to come in and we would work it out.
I went in to the store later and both he and the actual owner was there. I got to say hi to both of them and Terell was so kind and thanked me for doing this project. They put me in touch with the stores GM and we spent the next few minutes working out the details. While I was there I went over my budget and realized that since they had given me such a great price for the hams, I still had like $1500 left over. I asked the GM what else we could do. So we walked through the store together and he gave me a great deal on several more items we could give away with the hams.
So now instead of giving away just a ham, we are now giving away 200 dinner packages. It includes the ham, potatoes, stuffing, corn, cranberries and rolls (LOVE Terell's rolls!!). Every day it seems like some other small mercy happens. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.
I went in to the store later and both he and the actual owner was there. I got to say hi to both of them and Terell was so kind and thanked me for doing this project. They put me in touch with the stores GM and we spent the next few minutes working out the details. While I was there I went over my budget and realized that since they had given me such a great price for the hams, I still had like $1500 left over. I asked the GM what else we could do. So we walked through the store together and he gave me a great deal on several more items we could give away with the hams.
So now instead of giving away just a ham, we are now giving away 200 dinner packages. It includes the ham, potatoes, stuffing, corn, cranberries and rolls (LOVE Terell's rolls!!). Every day it seems like some other small mercy happens. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.
December 20th, 2020 - A $2000 donation
Throughout this entire project I have been so impressed with the outpouring of help, donations and support from people, especially in our small community. So even the smallest of donations was appreciated so much. It's not the amount that impresses me as it is the act behind it. That being said, I was stunned when on friday night I received a text message from an couple here in our community that asked if there was still time to donate. I of course said Yes there is still time. She then said that they would like to donate $2000. WHAT?! Jaw was on the floor. At first I wondered if she meant to type $20.00 or even $200, but nope it really was for $2000. Again, I do not want to undermine the hundreds of contributions that were made prior to this, as they allowed Helping Hams to be what it already was. This gift however is going to allow us to do some things in the very near future that I hadn't even considered. More about that in a later post. Again, just another miraculous event that we have seen from doing this wonderful project.
December 23rd - Go time
After almost a month of planning and preparation, the day was finally here. I was so excited to get these meals out to people. Most of my family was there to help and we were at Terells by 9am to get set up. I had two concerns going into this day. 1) what if no one shows up? 2) what if everyone shows up? haha. I so wanted this food to get into the hands of those who truly needed, I was worried that I hadn't done enough to get the word out there. Silly me, I should have known that with this amazing community behind us how could this project be anything but successful... And that it was. we were supposed to start at 10am. By 10:07am we had given out several dozen meals. So many people who were truly in need showed up, and were so grateful. There were also dozens of people that showed up to get meals for people in thier families, neighborhoods, churches or towns, and I knew within minutes that this project was going to hit the nail on the head, it was going to help those who truly needed it...and it did.
Now my biggest concern wasn't will it help, or will people show up, but what happens when/if we run out of food. As the day progressed dozens more people came into the store to get meals. You could see it in their eyes and hear it in their thank you's that this small gift was going to help them. Even if it was just for one meal, an important meal for most families that may not have had as much without Helping Hams. It was so humbling to see people come in to get our little bit of help, but so incredibly uplifting to hear their thank you's and see their smiles.
Of course with this community the giving didn't stop. We had a small donation jar on the table for people to donate if they could. Well, I'll put it this way. So many people donated that we had to empty the jar a couple of times to make room for more donations. Well as we started to run out of food, my biggest concern was looming. It was obvious that we were going to run out of meals before we ran out of time. So I took all the donation that we had gathered in the jar and went and bought more hams/food. I was hoping that we would now have enough, but sadly we did not. We ran out again. The hardest part of this entire project was the fact that we did not have any food left and there were several people who were there to get some. My wife said, why don't you just give them some money instead. Brilliant!! I took the left over money and as people would come up and ask for hams, I would give them enough money to go and buy the meal they had come for in the first place. It wasn't quite the same, but it was something. After all was said and done, I still have about $150 left over. So I walked around the store and would randomly drop $20 or so into peoples carts while they weren't looking. Sneaky I am. haha. It was fun to turn around and see the confused look on their face when they saw the money in their carts. It probably wan't the best use of the money, but I just couldn't stop helping when I knew I had money left and so many needed it. Again, I am the true recipient of the generosity of those who donated. I just want to say thank you again to everyone that supported Helping Hams. The great thing is that we are going to try and keep it going, as I quickly realized today that even though helping someone have a nicer Christmas meal was good, we need to do so much more. We will be annoucing very soon what we are going to do with the large $2000 donation mentioned above, but it will be something that we are going to do that can help people all year long, not just for the holidays.
That being said, if anyone still wants to donate to Helping Hams please do so. Again, we will be making an announcement within the next month, once we get everything in place.
Here are some photos of us giving out the meals.
p.s. Special thanks again to Chuck Jensen for the potatoes, Terells Market for use of the facility and for helping us get all the food at such a great price, i-Four media for giving us the banner, and to all who donated money and time.
p.p.s. If you would like to donate to Helping Hams so that we can continue this year round.
- venmo: @devron-larson
- Send to check to: 40 East 500 North, Fairview, UT. 84629. (Make checks to Devron Larson)
Now my biggest concern wasn't will it help, or will people show up, but what happens when/if we run out of food. As the day progressed dozens more people came into the store to get meals. You could see it in their eyes and hear it in their thank you's that this small gift was going to help them. Even if it was just for one meal, an important meal for most families that may not have had as much without Helping Hams. It was so humbling to see people come in to get our little bit of help, but so incredibly uplifting to hear their thank you's and see their smiles.
Of course with this community the giving didn't stop. We had a small donation jar on the table for people to donate if they could. Well, I'll put it this way. So many people donated that we had to empty the jar a couple of times to make room for more donations. Well as we started to run out of food, my biggest concern was looming. It was obvious that we were going to run out of meals before we ran out of time. So I took all the donation that we had gathered in the jar and went and bought more hams/food. I was hoping that we would now have enough, but sadly we did not. We ran out again. The hardest part of this entire project was the fact that we did not have any food left and there were several people who were there to get some. My wife said, why don't you just give them some money instead. Brilliant!! I took the left over money and as people would come up and ask for hams, I would give them enough money to go and buy the meal they had come for in the first place. It wasn't quite the same, but it was something. After all was said and done, I still have about $150 left over. So I walked around the store and would randomly drop $20 or so into peoples carts while they weren't looking. Sneaky I am. haha. It was fun to turn around and see the confused look on their face when they saw the money in their carts. It probably wan't the best use of the money, but I just couldn't stop helping when I knew I had money left and so many needed it. Again, I am the true recipient of the generosity of those who donated. I just want to say thank you again to everyone that supported Helping Hams. The great thing is that we are going to try and keep it going, as I quickly realized today that even though helping someone have a nicer Christmas meal was good, we need to do so much more. We will be annoucing very soon what we are going to do with the large $2000 donation mentioned above, but it will be something that we are going to do that can help people all year long, not just for the holidays.
That being said, if anyone still wants to donate to Helping Hams please do so. Again, we will be making an announcement within the next month, once we get everything in place.
Here are some photos of us giving out the meals.
p.s. Special thanks again to Chuck Jensen for the potatoes, Terells Market for use of the facility and for helping us get all the food at such a great price, i-Four media for giving us the banner, and to all who donated money and time.
p.p.s. If you would like to donate to Helping Hams so that we can continue this year round.
- venmo: @devron-larson
- Send to check to: 40 East 500 North, Fairview, UT. 84629. (Make checks to Devron Larson)