My friend Helen Mildenhall, blogmaster for Off The Map and self-described “almost Atheist”, posted this over on her blog (Conversation at the Edge), so I’m of course stealing most of it and posting it here where it belongs. God told me it was ok. Honest.

I was encouraged to read about Russell Jackson this morning on CNN. As CNN reports

in 1997 [Russell] gave up his career as an Alabama firefighter, moved in with friends and dug into his retirement account to start Kid One Transport, a nonprofit organization that provides rides for needy children in his home state.

In 1992 Russell responded to an emergency call for a toddler. They were unable to save the child’s life. This profoundly affected Russell.

To process his grief, Russell accepted the suggestion of a counselor to get involved in volunteer work. When he did, this is what he discovered

“When I drove into the community, it was a world of its own. It was a lot of homes that were deplorable. And that’s really the only way I can explain them,” he says.

Jackson says he was instantly ashamed by his own comfortable lifestyle.

“All it took was the one visit,” he recalls, “and I knew I really wanted to come out and work with these folks, hand in hand, and do whatever I could to help make life a little bit easier for them.”

When social workers told him about the neighborhood children who had no way to travel to and from appointments for chemotherapy, physical therapy and even for regular checkups, Jackson started driving them there himself.

Before long this one-man operation grew into a 13-van team covering 30 counties. Though Jackson recently stepped down from a daily role in the organization he founded, he says the best part of his work has been meeting the families and witnessing firsthand so many medical transformations.

There were some who learned to speak, another who learned to walk, and others who recovered from life-threatening illnesses — even when doctors were less than hopeful.

“I saw so many lives changed, so many determined children and parents who wanted to beat the odds that were against them,” Jackson says.