Saturday Surprise: Give Hope–Give a Hand

I thought I’d mix things up a bit by not posting a recipe or a book review, but something a bit different. This is the ‘Saturday Surprise’ edition of tlfinney.com.  I’m not saying I won’t post a recipe or book review in the future, but if I told you–you know, it wouldn’t be a surprise. (wink, wink)

Thursday, my department had a quarterly, half-day, offsite-meeting. We received an update on our business. Information on 2014 goals, infrastructure, how the business is doing, industry trends, etc., etc. And then came the point in the day when you do the ‘team building activity.’ For those in Corporate America, you know what I’m talking about. Not stand on a ledge, fall, and trust your colleagues to catch you, but you get the concept. Our activity was something I never would’ve expected and caught me totally off-guard, but was more fulfilling and humbling than anything I’ve done in a very long time : we built prosthetic hands.

We were organized into tables of 6 and then 2 groups of 3. Each team of 3 spent roughly an hour building a hand that will be sent to an overseas victim of a land mine. Never in a million years would I have thought that I could be apart of something so touching and impactful. The people who receive these hands will not have to pay anything–the average cost of a prosthetic hand being $3000+–and will have their lives changed forever. One man hadn’t been able to write in 20 years, until he received his prosthetic device.

The organization providing this incredibly phenomenal service is called LN-4 and their mantra is ‘Give Hope–Give a Hand.’ They were established when the founders lost their 18-year old daughter, Ellen, in a car accident. To create such a charitable and amazing organization as a result of such tragedy gives the word inspiring new meaning.

Right now, I’m typing–something I take for granted, often. One of my co-workers reflected that we (all those in the room at the time and I will venture to say quite a few who are reading this) have so much. More than many could ever possibly imagine having. And in less than an hour, a room full of people built enough hands to change the lives of almost 20 complete strangers–many of whom are children–in a positive way.

I encourage you to check out the LN-4 website. Learn about the organization. See how you can help. Or be inspired to help another cause, another organization, another person.