New Jersey ‘godsend’ helps those stuck at home: How are you helping others today?

Like so many other small business owners, Greg Dailey was forced to close his shop in late March after New Jersey issued statewide stay-at-home orders. While his newspaper route in East Windsor still left him with a source of income, he also found himself with a great deal of extra free time. In response, he decided to put it to good use.

Dailey’s paper route gives him daily interaction with the people of his community, including many senior adults who were afraid to leave their homes because of the coronavirus. When one of his eighty-eight-year-old customers asked him to throw the paper a bit closer to her door, he realized “If she can’t walk 20 feet to get her newspaper, how is she getting groceries?”

That epiphany gave rise to a new sense of purpose.

For the last two months, Greg and his twenty-four-year-old daughter Erin have spent their days gathering and delivering groceries to more than 120 senior citizens, free of charge. Those stuck inside simply give him their grocery list and leave a check at the door to reimburse Greg and Erin for the much-needed supplies.

As Dailey said, “There’s a bond that’s been created” between his family and those they help. And while “everything’s been from a distance” to this point, he “honestly can’t wait to give these people a hug.”

Are you a ‘godsend’?

Whether it’s COVID-19, the racial protests and riots, or any number of other factors, 2020 has gotten off to a very surreal start. Stories like those of Greg Dailey, however, remind us that, even in the midst of calamity and uncertainty, God is still present, bringing good from all the bad. In fact, that’s often when he seems to do his best work.

And if we’re open and willing, he generally prefers to accomplish that work through his people as well.

I don’t know if Greg Dailey is a Christian, but he’s been “a godsend” to those in his community, and his work has served as a beacon of light in an otherwise difficult time.

The same can, and should, be true of us as well.

So take some time this weekend to ask God to show you where he’s at work redeeming the trouble in your sphere of influence, then commit to joining him in those efforts.

After all, we seldom have to go far to be his hands and feet to those in need. All we really have to do is be willing to serve.