A VERY SPECIAL GREENGROCER
I attended the Man of the Year ceremony at a Rotary meeting and the person to gt the honors, was a greengrocer; a very special greengrocer indeed. Instead of leaving the surplus produce to rot, at the end of every single week, he calls a volunteer from the local Rotary Branch to come with transport and collect whatever he was unable to sell before the weekend. The greengrocer’s son, who is handicapped, helps the volunteer to pile as much as they can into the hatchback, which is then taken to the nearest mental health rehabilitation center. Watching this was heartwarming. It was also so good to meet with the people who did not think twice about donating to the community with open hearts, as well as to discover that the Rotarians were prepared to help out. These same Rotarians organized a roster so that every single week, one of them visited the mental health rehabilitation center to deliver a lecture to whoever turned up … on any subject of their choice. The audience were people with mental illnesses and their comments were: ‘Thank you so much for coming. You make us feel like everyone else – ordinary.’
