Richard Carlson wrote a book a few years back entitled “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…and it’s all Small Stuff.” While it’s difficult to agree “it’s all small stuff”, the point is well made that if we’re honest with ourselves we spend an inordinate amount of time sweating stuff…stuff small and big and all the stuff in between.

Instead of worrying about stuff so much, maybe we should focus daily on how truly blessed we are. With food in the refrigerator, clothes on our backs and a safe place to sleep at night, we’re richer than 75% of the seven billion people on earth today. Most, if not all, reading this undoubtedly fit somewhere in that “richer than” category.

There are Stark County men, women and children living in poverty wondering if there will be food available today and safe shelter tonight. With apologies to author Carlson, no food and sleeping in an alley or doorway tonight would not be small stuff to me or to my family. How about to you?

At Refuge of Hope, we deal daily with people suffering from hunger, homelessness and poverty. In our meal ministry, we served 14,500 meals in 2008, a number that rose to 68,687 in 2012. Our 34-bed men’s emergency shelter has been occupied near, at or over capacity every night for nearly four years. As this is being written, we are housing over 50 homeless men.

It is possible to make a huge positive impact in the lives of so many in Stark County who live in dire circumstances every day. They don’t need a handout from you and me but rather a helping hand up. When we offer that hand, it is a true blessing indeed.