When I was attending the University of Tennessee during the early 1970s, we never could beat Auburn in football. Not much has changed since then! My boss at Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association was an Auburn journalism grad, a few years before me, and Jim always ribbed me about UT. I tried arguing with him, but to no avail.

Let me tell me you about a different War Eagle named Annie Ozment, who just graduated from Auburn and who will soon begin her doctorate work in occupational therapy. Her story has nothing to do with football, fortunately!

Annie’s a firm believer that your word of encouragement or your act of service can help uplift somebody today. She speaks from experience.

She grew up in Childersburg, Alabama, a city of about 5,000 people in the middle of the state. Next month she’ll be competing in the Miss Alabama pageant in Birmingham. She’s gregarious but she’ll tell you, having grown up with an older brother and with all boy cousins, that she’s also tough, can hold her own, and doesn’t like cryin’!

Well, in the summer of 2019, while volunteering at Alabama Childhood Food Solutions (ACFS) in nearby Sylacauga—the largest faith-based food pantry in Alabama—she met a four-year-old boy and his dad. It was toward the end of the day and the two were picking up a box of food to take home for their family. Now this was pre-Covid, so at that time the volunteers and guests were able to interact with each other closely. This is contrast with today when the guests drive through and the masked volunteers place the food in the back of their cars, vans or trucks.

On this day there were a few extra desserts, so Annie offered the dad and his son the choice between some ice cream or a little cookie cake. “Oh wait a minute, we also have these cup cakes that are bunched together in the shape of a turtle. Would you like that one instead?” she asked the young boy.

He pointed to the turtle cake. Then, with tears welling in his eyes, the father replied, “You don’t know what this means to me and to him.”

“What’s up?” Annie replied.

“He’s going to turn 4 tomorrow and this is the first birthday cake he’s ever had in his life,” the man said.

Her lip quivering, Annie wiped her own eyes.

Describing this simple act of kindness two years later, Annie choked back her emotions afresh. “It still makes me want to cry knowing that this 4-year-old boy’s day was made in that moment,” Annie told me. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Annie’s one of about 500 volunteers who give of their time and of their love to help https://alabamachildhoodfood.com/ provide weekend food bags for 2,200 students at 38 schools in 9 counties and about 80 pounds of food every month for nearly 900 families—so they won’t go hungry at night like so many Alabamians do.

More and more, food insecurity is becoming a serious issue in our country. Annie first saw the frightening reality of hunger when she was 12 years old. She loved cheering for her older brother Jacob, who played catcher for his high school baseball team. After each game, Annie noticed that the team manager, who was just a couple years older than she was, would always bag up the leftovers from the ball field’s concession stand. One day she asked Cory why he did that. “My mom is unemployed and I have four younger brothers and three younger sisters and we won’t get enough to eat if I don’t bring them this,” he said.

“I was shocked,” Annie said. “Then I soon discovered that other friends of mine at school didn’t have enough to eat. God led me to Alabama Childhood Food Solutions, where I’ve kept volunteering at when I’m able.”

And through the yearly Thanksgiving-time Sock It To Childhood Hunger campaign—when students from 17 Talladega County schools stuff spare change into socks and donate them to ACFS—Annie has helped raise more than $35,000 to fight the scourge of hunger in her community.

Annie will be the first one to tell you that, whether you’re serving the Lord at your community’s food pantry—or among senior citizens at a local nursing home or wherever God leads you—you can bring words of encouragement to somebody who is hurting or needs to hear an uplifting verse from God’s Word to minister peace and hope to their soul.

“Yes, we feed people physically, but ever since I began volunteering at Alabama Childhood Food, the founders Jim and Linda Jones have stressed that helping to feed people spiritually is an even greater privilege,” Annie explains. “No doubt, every volunteer can live like Christ and can show and share His love.”

ACTION STEP: How about you my friend? God wants to work in and through you, no matter how old you are or your experience level. Annie broke her ankle in 2011 and has endured many surgical procedures and physical therapy appointments. Romans 8:18 speaks to her—“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (NIV). So the pain we suffer now can’t compare to the joy coming in the morning! That passage comforts her knowing that even in the pain of the moment, her testimony was being written and eventually she’d be able to share God’s wondrous works through her healing. As a result, she was able to relate to Mary, a recipient of food at ACFS and a faithful sister in Christ. She has troubles with her knee and they bonded over shared pain, recoveries and, most importantly, God’s incredible faithfulness seeing them through. They’ve prayed with each other and mutually encouraged one other. The same can happen with you! Are you ready?