|
David Simpson and Kathy Fletcher: They provide a loving home to young people in need
David, 57 and Kathy, 56 are a married couple in the Washington, DC area who welcome young people with dire needs.
They offer them food and shelter, clothing, money for school and most of all, make them part of a loving, supportive family. When did this begin?
(Story continues from "Read More")
It began about 2010 when they started helping friends of Kathy’s son Santiago, while he was in middle school, and it has continued.
“We said yes " step by step by step " until we had eight kids living in our house,” David told The Washington Post.
When they had no more room, the couple convinced neighbors to take in more kids.
In all, David and Kathy now assist about 40 young people through All Our Kids (AOK), a nonprofit they created two years ago.
AOK welcomes donations, whether in volunteers, money, food or more loving homes
Famed musician Yo-Yo Ma donated VIP concert tickets to an AOK auction while musician Joshua Bell has held fund raising concerts.
But there is even more to this remarkable story.
When one of their “kids,” Madeline Hernandez, became gravely ill, desperate for a kidney, she was confronted by a medical world of kidney shortages.
The odds were 1 in 10,000 that David would be a match, but miraculously he was and in October donated a kidney to her.
“Of course, I’m going to do it,” he said before the five-hour surgery.
Can one or two people make a wonderful difference in this world? We need only consider David and Kathy and AOK to know the answer.
Editor's Note:
To learn more, click here and here.
In the next KazanToday:
A man who brings love and companionship to lonely senior citizens.
|
