I was fundraising in Missouri and Kansas during 1976. Often I encountered negativity in various little towns. I was always so shocked at the hardness of heart that some people conveyed. On a hot summer day in an unknown town, I was wandering by some railroad tracks, away from the downtown area. I was in sort of a rundown area near an abandoned railway station. I think I was sitting down on a railroad tie feeling miserable when I saw a figure approaching. It was a black man, maybe in his forties. He was very fat, and wore tattered clothing. His clothes were literally ragged, and he had a disease that I have seen occasionally over the years.

He was covered with cysts or tumors or warts, all over his face, head, arms, neck. I felt almost physically sick looking at him; this affliction is one of the worst I have ever seen on someone. I felt so sorry for him, and also knew that wherever he went, people must have been horrified to see him.

I stood up and fundraised to him. I think I had "God Bless America Zoomers" ("turtle" candy). He fished around in his pocket and pulled out $2 and bought a box and kept walking. He was about the only person that day that had been nice to me. After he walked out of sight, I sat down and cried my heart out over him for a long time. I prayed and cried and begged God to bless him for his generosity. He was in the worst circumstances of anyone I had met that day and yet he was the one who gave. That was an extremely meaningful experience for me, and taught me something about God’s heart and the unexpected goodness in people.

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