It’s Our 2024 Annual Giving Show!

Summary

The Ramsey Show: It’s Our 2024 Annual Giving Show!

Introduction

In a heartfelt and inspiring edition of The Ramsey Show, host Dave Ramsey and co-host George Camel celebrate the spirit of generosity through their 2024 Annual Giving Show. Dedicated entirely to stories of giving and receiving, this special episode features listeners sharing their personal experiences with generosity, highlighting how giving can transform lives and communities. Sponsored by Convoy of Hope, a faith-based organization committed to disaster relief and combating hunger, the show underscores the profound impact of altruism.

Listener Stories of Generosity

1. Greg from Wichita, Kansas [02:43 – 08:28]

   • Story: Greg, a youth pastor, recounts an extraordinary act of generosity that changed his family's trajectory. When his children aspired to graduate college debt-free and expand their mowing business, a church community gifted them a 2013 black Ford F150, a trailer, and a brand-new John Deere mower. This generous donation enabled Greg’s son to grow the business from mowing three yards to over 100,000 dollars in revenue, allowing both children to achieve their educational goals without debt.
   • Notable Quote:
     • George Camel: “[06:56] Off about four boxes on the Ramsey plan. And we're talking about, number one, generosity.”

2. Grace from Waco, Texas [12:37 – 28:44]

   • Story: Grace shares a miraculous financial blessing that alleviated her family's credit card debt. Eight years after her mother's passing, Grace and her husband were struggling to save for their wedding when a forgotten bank account provided exactly the amount needed to pay off $2,000 in debt. This unexpected gift reinforced Grace's belief in God's unwavering grace and the importance of community support.
   • Notable Quote:
     • Dave Ramsey: “[14:24] God’s hand. Very precise.”

3. Christy Sue from St. Paul, Minnesota [15:33 – 20:12]

   • Story: Christy Sue’s story is one of extraordinary selflessness. Inspired by a compassionate teacher named Nancy, she donated her kidney and later 63% of her liver to strangers. Nancy’s unwavering support during Christy Sue's teenage years motivated her to give back in profound ways, transforming lives through organ donation and fostering a legacy of kindness.
   • Notable Quote:
     • Dave Ramsey: “[18:34] Wow.”

4. Meg Loney from Ramsey Solutions [21:58 – 29:32]

   • Story: Meg discusses the impact of the Make A Wish organization on her daughter, Tilly, who was diagnosed with epilepsy. Through Make A Wish, Meg’s family received extensive support, including a transformative trip to Disney World, which coincided with Tilly becoming seizure-free for 14 months. This experience not only provided emotional relief but also reinforced the importance of charitable organizations in times of crisis.
   • Notable Quote:
     • George Camel: “[24:02] She was just being nice, Dave.”

5. John from Orlando [31:49 – 50:09]

   • Story: John shares a poignant 9/11 narrative involving his father, who worked in the World Trade Center and perished during the attacks while aiding others. This tragic loss instilled in John a lasting commitment to generosity. Years later, facing infertility struggles, John and his wife received substantial financial support from their employer, Convoy of Hope, enabling them to start a family without the burden of debt.
   • Notable Quote:
     • George Camel: “[37:22] That’s legacy.”

6. Jocelyn from Knoxville [51:57 – 66:53]

   • Story: Jocelyn recounts how a scholarship from her great-grandfather’s friend, facilitated through Zander Insurance, allowed her to attend East Tennessee State University debt-free. This scholarship not only funded her education but also inspired her brother to pursue an engineering degree without financial strain, showcasing the long-term effects of generational generosity.
   • Notable Quote:
     • Dave Ramsey: “[54:44] That turned it around.”

7. Landry from Oklahoma City [62:57 – 71:17]

   • Story: Landry details how, after her father’s tragic suicide and the absence of life insurance, a scholarship from Zander Insurance provided the financial means for her and her brother to attend college without debt. This support was pivotal in allowing her to overcome personal trauma and focus on her education in healthcare administration.
   • Notable Quote:
     • Dave Ramsey: “[65:38] Amazing.”

8. Danielle from Grand Junction [67:39 – 71:17]

   • Story: As educators, Danielle and her husband established a college scholarship in memory of Danielle’s brother, Evan, after losing two students to suicide. Their initiative has awarded 15 scholarships totaling over $64,000, enabling high school students to pursue higher education without taking on debt. This scholarship not only honors Evan’s memory but also fosters resilience and financial independence among students.
   • Notable Quote:
     • Dave Ramsey: “[70:10] It’s a community.”

9. Frank from Nashville [72:32 – 75:46]

   • Story: Frank shares a spontaneous act of generosity where he and his wife purchased concert tickets for a waitress struggling financially. By foregoing their own tickets, they provided her first-ever concert experience free of charge. This gesture exemplifies the immediate and personal impact of giving, transforming a stranger’s day and creating lasting memories.
   • Notable Quote:
     • Dave Ramsey: “[75:23] If you just start listening and start looking, you will find so many opportunities to give.”

10. Carl from Knoxville [77:18 – 79:48]

    • Story: Carl narrates an altruistic decision to gift $1,200 in concert tickets to a waitress after failing to sell his own tickets. This act not only provided the waitress and her husband with their first concert experience but also showcased how even substantial financial gifts can be channeled to create profound personal joy.
    • Notable Quote:
      • Dave Ramsey: “[78:57] That is so cool.”

Insights and Discussions

Throughout the episode, Dave Ramsey and George Camel emphasize the transformative power of generosity. They highlight how acts of giving not only benefit recipients but also profoundly reshape the character and lives of the givers. Key insights include:

• Ripple Effect of Generosity: Small acts of kindness can lead to significant, long-term impacts, as seen in Greg’s and Jocelyn’s stories where initial generosity enabled further success and support.

• Generosity as a Legacy: Stories like John’s illustrate how generosity creates a lasting legacy, influencing multiple generations and fostering a culture of giving.

• Personal Transformation: Acts of giving often lead to personal growth and increased happiness for the giver, fostering a more selfless and connected community.

• Community Support: Grace’s and Carla’s stories demonstrate the vital role of community support in overcoming personal and familial challenges.

Sponsor Highlight: Convoy of Hope

Convoy of Hope, the episode’s sponsor, is lauded for its efficiency and impact. Senior Vice President Ed Garvin discusses the organization's remarkable ability to deliver aid swiftly and effectively, ensuring that 90% of donations directly support those in need. With over 136,000 volunteers, Convoy of Hope maintains an operational efficiency rate of approximately 8.4%, allowing extensive resources to reach disaster-stricken and needy communities globally.

Conclusion

The Ramsey Show’s 2024 Annual Giving Show beautifully encapsulates the essence of generosity, showcasing real-life stories that inspire and reaffirm the importance of giving. From life-changing scholarships to spontaneous acts of kindness, each story underscores the profound impact of generosity on individuals and communities alike. By sharing these narratives, Dave Ramsey and George Camel encourage listeners to embrace a lifestyle of giving, highlighting that generosity not only transforms others’ lives but also enriches the giver’s own life in meaningful ways.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [06:04]: "That's a super cool well that checked."
• Dave Ramsey [14:24]: "God’s hand. Very precise."
• Dave Ramsey [18:34]: "Wow."
• George Camel [24:02]: "She was just being nice, Dave."
• George Camel [37:22]: "That’s legacy."
• Dave Ramsey [54:44]: "That turned it around."
• Dave Ramsey [65:38]: "Amazing."
• Dave Ramsey [70:10]: "It’s a community."
• Dave Ramsey [75:23]: "If you just start listening and start looking, you will find so many opportunities to give."
• Dave Ramsey [78:57]: "That is so cool."

This episode not only celebrates generosity but also serves as a powerful reminder of the enduring impact that giving can have on both individuals and society.

Transcript

[A]

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love and create actual amazing relationships. George Camel, Ramsey personality number one best selling author is my co host. On this very special edition of the Ramsey Show, Today is your favorite and one of our favorite shows to do in the entire year. The entire show is dedicated to giving. We're going to take calls from people who tell us the story of having received or having having given at some point in their life just to inspire generosity. Because we teach you to live like no one else so that later you.

[B]

Can live and give like no one else.

[A]

There we go. Look at that.

[B]

I nailed the pop quiz.

[A]

That was it.

[B]

Nerve wracking.

[A]

You knew the answer right there.

[B]

Real nail biter.

[A]

Give you the look and you just pick it up.

[B]

Well, I was just thinking I should have brought some tissues because usually these stories make my eyes leak.

[A]

Yeah, I cry at an Applebee's commercial so we can be predicted that I'm going to have a problem. But yeah, these stories, some of them are that way and some of them are just. Yeah, that was a good thing. It's okay because sometimes there's fireworks and emotion around generosity and sometimes it's just, no, that's the right thing to do. That's simple. So today's giving show is brought to you by the folks at Convoy of Hope. They are a faith based organization that partners with local churches and civic groups to provide relief to people affected by disasters and hunger. For instance, they were some of the first and still on the ground in Asheville, North Carolina when that disaster hit. They're that type of thing. You see them show up there all the time. We've been friends with these guys a long time. You can trust them because they've got a track record of over 30 years of supplying food, water, recovery to communities around the world. So if you live and give like no one else, you can donate and support their [e-mail] Ramsey convoyofhope.org Ramsey they're our sponsor for our giving show today. No irony there at all. Open phones as we take your calls about your stories. You jump in. The phone number is, RIPLE-8825-5225. It's all giving all day or receiving all generosity all day. Greg is with us to start the show off. Wichita, Kansas. Hi Greg. Merry Christmas.

[B]

Merry Christmas to you guys.

[A]

Absolutely, man. So tell us what your generosity story is.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, I think this will be better than an Applebee's commercial.

[A]

That's a low bar, man.

[B]

I know. Well, you said it. So, yeah. I'm a youth pastor in Wichita, Kansas, and about seven years ago, eight years ago, I was meeting with a guy and discipling him and just we were getting into a place where starting to share personal prayer requests. And one of ours for my family was we had a daughter that was a few years off from going to college and we started saving, but we had a desire to see them both of our kids graduate debt free. And the plan was we would pay 50% after scholarship and they would pay 50% after scholarship and beginning to go, hey, how are they going to do this? And so just praying about our kids taking their mowing business to the next level. My son was mowing three yards that he could basically put a mower in the back of a minivan and go a few doors down or a neighborhood over. But we're praying about buying a truck and a trailer and a mower at some point. But the truck was definitely outside, felt outside of her reach. Well, three, four months after we began to pray, I got contacted by my friend and he said, hey, my wife and I would love to stop by the church today, just have a brief meeting with you. I was like, hey, I'd love to do that, but I can't. Today we have a meeting at the church called Perspectives, and they're like, hey, we'd love to come. It literally will take like two minutes. And so it was like 9, 30, 10 o'clock at night. They took me to the back of the church and they said, hey, check that out. And it was a 2013 black Ford F150 with a trailer and a brand new John Deere 48 inch zero turn.

[A]

Mower on the back, which cost more than the truck. Oh, my gosh. Wow.

[B]

Wow, that is wild.

[A]

Yeah, that's crazy.

[B]

Blew us away. And man, God's, God's generosity through them. But then just the way the mowing business took off, we actually had somebody give us 10 yards. They were moving and normally they might sell it. And they said, hey, we just, we want to give these to you, to you and your kids. And so they started with about 15 yards and during the next six or seven years made over $100,000 and were able to graduate college debt free. Both of them. Wow.

[A]

I love it. Those kids are gonna turn out.

[B]

Yeah. Now I'm wondering, did they need college at this point? There's some budding entrepreneurs right there.

[A]

What they say, that's awesome, man. Very cool.

[B]

They loved college and are you know, still growing, but yeah, they've, they've turned out well. And not only did they graduate college debt free, but they just, they worked hard. And I just saw their generosity through this.

[A]

That's amazing.

[B]

Just mowing free for people and mowing for a pregnancy crisis center.

[A]

And so they just, they paid it forward like crazy then.

[B]

Yeah. And just, it's cool to see what, what God has done in their life as they look back and just can't help but notice this generosity.

[A]

Yeah. Fingerprints. I love it. I got to tell you that that is the, the best kind. One of my favorite. It's not the best kind overall, but it's one of my favorite kinds of giving. And when you can, you know, they gave, I don't know, 20,000 bucks, we'll call it there. Okay. That turned into hard work and 100 plus thousand dollars. So when you can give into something and it causes, you know, something 10x or 20x or 5x to happen because of the giving, because of the generosity. That's a super cool well that checked.

[B]

Off about four boxes on the Ramsey plan. And we're talking about, number one, generosity. The kids are going to college debt free and they started and launched this debt free business and grew it. That's entre leadership right there. I mean, you got your start mowing lawns way back in the day, didn't you?

[A]

12 years old. Yeah.

[B]

Can you imagine if someone did that for you? You might have a lawn care business right now. I'm not getting into this.

[A]

Dude, I cut so much grass by the time I was 19. God told me I never had to do it again. I'm just saying. Oh, I hate it. But yeah, the, that's still, it's just a wonderful form of giving where you allow someone to, you know, take the gift and 10x it with their work or with their whatever. There's some other way to expand the giving beyond just one and done kind of thing. And so that's a beautiful, beautiful picture.

[B]

Yeah, you're right.

[A]

That did check a lot of boxes. One of the boxes teach kids to work.

[B]

Oh, that's right.

[A]

That was another box.

[B]

There was no entitlement here. The kids worked hard. They learned a lot.

[A]

Great kids.

[B]

How do you do that? That's magic trick.

[A]

They were busting it, number one. Number two, they're in agreement that we're going to pay, you know, we're going to pay for cash for college. Number three, then they're generous with everything. These are great.

[B]

Yeah, these kids are not going to be the Grinch. When they grow up, they're going to remember this for the rest of their life.

[A]

Well, and they're never going to call the show and say, you know, I haven't been able to find a job in four months. They won't. That won't be them. They'll never make that call because they'll always be able to do something because they're not afraid of that.

[B]

And, you know, their kids are going to go to college debt free. And so the ripple effect of this thing is massive.

[A]

It's a generational gift and it's a zero turn. John Deere. Who knew? I like it.

[B]

Two of Dave's favorite things.

[A]

I'm telling you, man. That's an expensive tractor. That was a nice gift. Nice gift. You paint green on them. They go up a lot. That's. That's pretty big deal. So good stuff. Very cool. It's the annual giving show here on the Ramsey Show.

[B]

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[A]

It's our annual giving show here on the Ramsey Show. George Camel Ramsey, personality number one best selling author of the book Breaking Free from Broke he's my co host today as we take your calls on your stories of generosity, either receiving or giving. And we're fired up about that interesting thing. The folks at Every Dollar. I just talked to our team over there. Our budgeting app is one of the largest, best run, best budgeting apps in the world. It's called Every Dollar. You give Every dollar a name, you can download it for free and get control of your money. And that way Christmas won't sneak up on you next year. But one of the things we're able to do, since we obviously the app is ours, we're able to look at the app and see what's happening there. We can tell in the charity or generosity category of the budget that people using Every Dollar are giving around $50 million a month, 30 to $50 million a month. So that's gonna be somewhere around $500 million this year. And we just started looking at this and started tracking it this year. And so as we start tracking it and start encouraging it, we're pretty sure that Every Dollar users will be easily giving a billion a year away.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

And we don't know where it goes. We're not getting in people's business. We don't have categories for it. It's just the people that they have that in their budget, in their charity line, and it's running 30 to $50 million a month right now. Americans are some of the most generous people in the world. I know we hear about all these things negative in the press or this or that and all these things out there. Everybody's got an opinion. But when you actually get into the numbers, the amount that Americans give to each other, to causes inside the country and outside the country, there's not another country on the planet that's even close or ever has been in the history of humanity. This is the most generous group of human beings that has ever walked the face of the earth. Right now, people don't talk about that, but that's the actual data. That's the numbers that we know about generosity nationwide. And just with our app, we can tell, you know, easily 500 million just on that one thing there. Easily.

[B]

And I bet the people that aren't giving would like to give more. And that's the power of the budget, is you got to find the margin to be able to give, to be able to look up and see those opportunities. And so that's the best part about it. That's why we put the giving line item first. Not Every Dollar budget.

[A]

You're exactly right. And you know, live like no one else so later you can live and.

[B]

Give like no one else.

[A]

There we go.

[B]

Got it.

[A]

We're going to get this down, George. Almost like a routine here. Grace is with us in Waco, Texas. Hi, Grace. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Tell us your generosity story.

[B]

Hey, thank you for having me on. Sure. Yeah. So let's see, about eight years ago, 2016, my mom tragically passed away. I was just graduating high school. My whole community just rallied around me. They supported me, they did fundraisers and got me a pretty big lump sum of money, enough so I could buy my first car, my first laptop so I can get to college. It was just absolutely fantastic. So that in itself is absolutely amazing. Now, fast forward six years from then. So two years ago, me and my. We were fiance or my fiance then. We're married now. We were trying to save up for our wedding and trying to just pick up extra shifts and really didn't want to go into our marriage with any debt, especially not from our wedding. And so unfortunately, though, we had racked up about $2,000, give or take a few. And randomly, one of my. My mom's friends from whenever she was alive, she messaged me just one day randomly and just said, hey, I. There's a bank account that is for you that we set up that has the money in it. And, you know, I don't know why, but they hadn't, they hadn't given it to me. I think they had just forgotten or something had happened. Anyways, long story short, ended up being the exact amount of money that we were in debt on our. On my credit card. And so it was just amazing. People had given money and putting this, put it in, put it into an account for us, and then six years later, it was still there. And it just, Just shows how good God's grace is that it's never ending.

[A]

Amen. Amen. The timing on that's amazing. And the amount matching up the whole thing, that's. That's the way the story should go. Right there.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. God hand. Very precise.

[A]

Exactly. Exactly. Very fun. Very fun. And I'm sure that inspires you guys to be keeping your eyes open for generosity as now that you're married and out there running around doing your own thing, right?

[B]

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Anytime. Anytime. We just. It's really not even a second thought sort of thing. It's just like if I have this and somebody else needs it. Absolutely. We just had our first, first child about seven months ago. So even then having a child and just Seeing how giving people were for her and just for us. And it's just. It's amazing how. How kind and generous people can be. And it does. It has. It has moved us in ways that I don't think people will ever really know. We just have to repay. Repay what we can as often as we can.

[A]

There you go. I love it. Way to go, Grace. Good job. Thank you for sharing that. That's good. Love that one. Christy sue is with us in St. Paul, Minnesota. Hi, Christy Sue. Tell us your generosity story.

[B]

Merry Christmas.

[A]

Merry Christmas.

[B]

I don't know how you. I don't know how you do this every day. I'm so nervous.

[A]

You'll be all right. We've never lost a patient.

[B]

All right, thank you. So there's a couple layers to this onion. So when I was growing up, my family was plagued with addiction, alcoholism, and mental illness. And my mom left when I was 10 years old, and I was with my dad then my sister and I were with my dad until I was 13. And at that point, again, there was those layers of addiction, alcoholism, and mental illness. And he brought us to stay with our aunt and uncle for what we thought was going to be the summer. And then that ended up being about three years. And then I went, and I was in a couple of different homes after that. And so, as you can imagine, I was just. At the age of 17, I was just bitter and angry. And I had a teacher. I ended up in a home economics class, and I had a teacher that just took me under her wing and could see that I was angry and bitter, but I was still a good kid. I didn't get in trouble or anything like that. And she showed interest, and she wanted to come to some of my sporting events and was, like, genuinely invested in me as a person. And now as an adult, understanding that she had three other kids that were around my age, so she was juggling all their activities, too, and she still, you know, made that time for me. It was super precious. And like I said, I didn't really get into trouble. But there was one day before prom, I got pulled out of class by a principal, by the principal. And he gave me an envelope that had nearly $200 in it. And he said, hey, have a good time at prom. And I begged him to tell me where this $200 came from. And he. He wouldn't do it. And to this day, I'm still very good friends with this teacher. Her name is Nancy. And she still won't admit that she was behind that $200. But it was.

[A]

But she was. It was Nancy.

[B]

Yeah. And, you know, it wasn't just that. It was the seed of compassion that she planted in me, and that has just really changed the trajectory of my life. I could have certainly followed the path of my parents, and I didn't. I ended up going to college. I'm in law enforcement now. And, you know, what I went through with my parents really helps me be more compassionate to the people that I deal with on a daily basis. And then, you know, her. Her compassion touched me in such a way that I wanted to give big. So God placed it on my heart. In 2021, I donated my kidney to a stranger.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And in that, I called Nancy. My husband and I were kind of keeping it close to our chest because there's a lot of things that can go on with the surgery, like that it getting rescheduled or things like that. But I really felt that I needed to share that with her. And she said, so you're. You're just donating to anybody? And I said, yeah, I didn't know anybody that needs a kidney, so I just was going to donate to whoever. And she said, I know someone that needs a kidney, and it's my best friend from seventh grade. And so, because I knew before the donation, the National Kidney Registry has a program. They do, like, paired donations and things like that. So I was able to give her friend, who I'd never met, a voucher so that she could then get a kidney. So I donated in February of 21. Her friend was able to get her kidney in October of 21. And then, because that was so rewarding, May of this last year, I actually donated 63% of my liver to a stranger.

[A]

So, my goodness, lady, you just keep going. That's amazing. Wow. Well, thank you for sharing that, Christy Sue. Merry Christmas. I've been doing this show for over 30 years, and some of the saddest calls I have taken are from situations that are completely preventable.

[B]

Yeah. And what's so hard is I feel like one of those, especially the ones that I'm like, oh, it's terrible air. People that call in and their spouse has passed away suddenly and they don't have life insurance. When you have to think through how am I going to pay my bills.

[A]

In the middle next week. Yeah.

[B]

In the middle of all that grief, like, it's just. It is. It's terrible. And so life insurance is the one thing, especially as a mom with three.

[A]

Little kids that I'm, like, so big.

[B]

On for people to get because it's inexpensive. Zander is the place that Winston and I actually get all of our life insurance.

[A]

And it doesn't cost much because Zander shops among a gazillion different companies. It doesn't cost much. You just have to admit that someday you're not going to be here. You got to say it out loud and you got to say, I'm going to say I love you to my family by taking care of them and taking the time to put this stuff in place. The cost of stinking pizza. To get a free quote, call 800-356-4282. That's 800-356-4282 or go to zander.com George Camel, Ramsey, personality number one best selling author is my co host today on our annual giving show brought to you today by the fine folks at Convoy of Hope. They partner with churches and civic organizations around the world to help in times of crisis, hunger and a lot of other wonderful things that they bring in to support literally around the world. But where you'll see them pop up is when you see something on the news like an Asheville, North Carolina type event. You'll see their trucks and their people on the ground. They're immediately helping. So convoyofhope.org Ramsey be sure and check these guys out. We appreciate them sponsoring today's giving show on the debt free stage live right here in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, one of our own Ramsey team, Meg Loney is with us. And Meg, welcome. Hey, you're here for the generosity time, the generous, the giving show. So before we get into that, you've been with Ramsey what about six years?

[B]

Going on seven in March.

[A]

Seven years. Okay, cool. And tell everybody what you do here.

[B]

I am a marketing operations specialist. So I make things work.

[A]

Marketing operations specialist. You make things work. What the flip does that mean?

[B]

All the back end things that a lot of people don't want to do. I do. She's being nice, Dave. It's above our pay grade.

[A]

I know. She's a scene. She's a senior digital marketing analyst. So yeah, this is Meg is smart people. That's what we're trying to say.

[B]

She's dumbing it down for us.

[A]

Yeah, she's trying to dumb it down for her for her CEO.

[B]

I tried.

[A]

Yeah. Well, it didn't work. You didn't get down low enough for me. You got to get the cookies down on the bottom shelf. All right, tell us your generosity story.

[B]

So I have my 4 year old daughter Tilly is here with us today. When she was five months old. She was diagnosed with epilepsy. And we went through lots of medicines. 10 medicines. None of them stopped the seizures. She was having three, four seizures a day, sometimes more.

[A]

And that's terrorizing.

[B]

It was very scary.

[A]

I can't breathe just hearing it.

[B]

And then ultimately, we went the surgical route. So they found a small piece of her brain that hadn't fully developed or developed properly. And they were like, hey, we think if we remove this part of her brain, that it will stop the seizures. And at that point, we had gotten to. She was getting rescue meds, like, once a week. So she was having seizures lasting longer than five minutes that required some extra medicine to stop them. So at that point, we were kind of like, we gave it to God. We said, we know that we've been praying for answers, and you've presented this one. So we started down the surgical route, and at that time, we applied with Make a Wish, Middle Tennessee, which is just an extraordinary organization.

[A]

And, yes, they are.

[B]

They worked with us to find, like, the best wish for Tilly to have. And so then she had her surgery in October. October 18th. And then in April of 2024, we were able to go on this amazing trip to Disney World and so much more. So they covered. They picked us up in a limo. They covered our flights. They got us a rental car. They have an amazing resort called Give Kids the World Resort, which is only for wish families. Wow. It is like a small apartment. There were two rooms. Tilly's room had the bathroom connected to it. And Justin and I actually had to, like, leave to go use the bathroom. Only the best for Tilly. Right? She had, like, the owner suite.

[A]

I like it.

[B]

They provided meals at the resort, and they have rides and a pool. So it's everything in a resort you could want. And then they give you tickets to Disney World with the Fast Pass or whatever it's called now. So we got to skip the line. Tilly went on her favorite ride, Slinky Dog Dash, three times in a row. Because they're like, yeah, just go back on it. We went to Universal Studios, and she had a blast. And they give you a debit card so that you can buy meals at the parks, you can buy souvenirs. It was just bigger than we could have ever imagined. Like, even starting with, like, dreaming with them, it was bigger than we could have even imagined. And it was just an amazing way to kind of cap off that journey. So because of today, as of Today, she is 14 months seizure free.

[A]

Yeah. Praise God.

[B]

That's Amazing. She's clapping, too, which I love.

[A]

That says. Yeah. Amen. Everybody clap. So the Make A Wish foundation has an incredible reputation of making these dreams come true like this. They do a great job. Do you. Did they find out about you, or do you apply or how did. How did you make the connection on that?

[B]

So I actually made the connection when I was in one of the epilepsy groups on Facebook, just a support group, and I saw someone had mentioned that their child was able to get a wish, and I was like, I thought that Make a Wish was only for children that had cancer or had a terminal illness. And then I did a little bit more research, and I talked to our epileptologist, and he was like, yeah, you should definitely apply. So we did.

[A]

So they have an application process that they use. Okay.

[B]

Yes, they have an application process.

[A]

Okay. So you did apply, and then it takes a few months or whatever and they get back to you or what?

[B]

It wasn't even a few months. It was maybe a week or two. They just kind of verify everything that's going on. And I know they do like to move quickly so that they can help all of the children that apply that meet kind of the criteria. So they are super quick. And they meet with you. They came to the hospital when we were in the hospital with Tilly during her first surgery, because we were in there for nine days for monitoring. So they came out and they saw us there, and they took us out for ice cream. They did all sorts of things, even leading up to the wish.

[A]

Wow. Wow. That's cool. That's cool. I can't think of anything better to do than make sure a child gets a wish like that. That's pretty incredible. Very cool.

[B]

We love hearing how she's doing today.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely. And the end of the story is a great one.

[B]

Yeah, it's amazing. And she's a wish ambassador now, so she helps to raise funds now for other kids to have their wishes granted, which we love to be able to then give back to the organization.

[A]

Yeah, that's good. Good. And you did today, because you just told the world. Yeah.

[B]

I would love if all the donations to Make a Wish could just take off, because these kids deserve it all. They go through so much more then anyone should have to, let alone being 3, 4, 5, 6.

[A]

Amen. And obviously, you were part of this team here during all that time, right?

[B]

I was. And the generosity from Ramsey during all of it was just amazing. There was never a question of, like, oh, you need more time off. You have Another doctor's appointment. It was so much grace and I can't imagine working anywhere else during the time that we went through that.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And the team also, that nine day stay at the hospital, the team also raised a lot of money. They gave us like a thousand dollar gift card to be able to buy food so we didn't have to eat hospital for nine days in a row.

[A]

Amen. Or the glory Hallelujah. I like that. Good stuff. Well, very cool. What a great story. Through a really painful and scary terrorizing time when your kid is sick. It just takes your breath away. That's a whole different thing. It's one thing to get sick, it's a whole nother thing to have a kid or a grandkid sick. And that's a process. And then you just go through this slog of getting past it. And now we've got a tiger on her hands. That's awesome. As it should be.

[B]

She's been playing and smiling this whole time. Totally ignoring mom. Just being a rock star on the stage. Which is how it should be.

[A]

As it should be. Very cool, Meg. Thank you very much. Yeah, bring her up. Let everybody see her.

[B]

Yeah, that's if you're watching on the Ramsey Network.

[A]

Oh, cute, cute, cute. Love it. Great outfit for the appearance too.

[B]

There we go.

[A]

Great way from Tilly the princess. I love it. Very cool.

[B]

And now an ambassador. What a cool title at four years old.

[A]

Yeah. George, I've never been an ambassador, have you?

[B]

No, but I'd like to be.

[A]

I think, I think we just were co ambassadors just during the segment.

[B]

That's right. Just sharing Tilly story for a moment. I feel like I'm part of it now.

[A]

For a moment we act like we had something to do with it. Yeah. Very cool. Good stuff, Meg. Thank you for sharing that excellent, excellent job. It's the annual giving show, the show on generosity where we tell stories about giving that has happened to keep everybody inspired, to keep that ball rolling out there. Paying it forward. Paying it forward. This is the Ramsey Show.

[B]

This show is sponsored by better help. Hey, it's that time of year. It's starting to get a little bit colder. It's getting a little bit dark earlier. And sometimes if you're like me, you just want to stay inside and get cozy. And for me, my perfect cozy night is me and all of my family piled under blankets, watching a movie, sitting by the fire, maybe even reading a book. Listen, whatever your perfect night in looks like, sometimes therapy can feel a bit like that. A time when you can Settle in. Finally, exhale, replenish your energy and begin to take care of yourself. Therapy is a great way to bring yourself some comfort during the chaos and rush of the holiday season or any other time of year. Taking the time to pause and be mindful is one of the reasons I Recommend Better Help. BetterHelp is 100% online therapy with licensed therapist. You can talk with your therapist just about anytime and just about anywhere so it's convenient for your schedule. Just fill out a short online survey to get matched with a therapist and you can switch therapists for no extra cost. Find comfort this December with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com DeLoney to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H-E-L-P.com DeLoney.

[A]

Our annual giving show here on the Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us, America. We're glad you're here. George Camel, Ramsey personality, is my co host today. John is with us in Orlando. Hey John, tell us your story about generosity. And Merry Christmas to you, sir.

[B]

Hey Dave. Hey George. Merry Christmas. How are you guys?

[A]

Better than we deserve, man.

[B]

Awesome. So my story is a bit of a three part story, but it goes all the way back when I was 13 years old. I lived in Pennsylvania and New Jersey at the time and I was in middle school and it was the very start of the school year. I was in art class and the teacher from across the hall runs in and tells my teacher to turn on the tv. So he did and it was the World Trade center with smoke just spilling out of one of the towers. Moments later, we watched the second plane hit the second tower. And as a middle school kid, I certainly did not understand what was even going on. And I raised my hand to my teacher and I said, that's where my, that's where my dad works. That's his office building. I'd been there a million times and he gave me a look and that's when I started to realize like how bad and serious this was. The rest of the day and the days after are a bit of a blur. But we found out. We know my dad was outside of the buildings when the plane hit. The both planes hit and he called home and he left a voice message on the machine and he told us how much he loved us and how things were really bad. He then went back in to help evacuate, save people that day and he unfortunately was not able to get out himself or save himself. Things, of course, were very, very difficult for my family and many, many other families after that. But the giving and generosity that took place for my family and other 911 families was, was very, very incredible. And that was the first time I saw giving and generosity at such an extreme level. And as a 13 year old kid, I knew I wanted to be able to give like that someday. Many years later, I met my wife, my beautiful wife. And we struggled with infertility for many, many, many years. And then that giving and generosity came back into our lives again with love and support and prayers. And even our company that we worked for paid for all of our infertility treatments, IU, IVF, the works, close to 50 grand. And again that giving and generosity blew us away. And then a miracle happened and we had a beautiful little girl, our daughter, her name is Journey. We named her that because it was a journey to have her through ivf. And then another miracle happens. And we are currently expecting our second in the new year.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Again. Yeah. We have one on the way.

[A]

Fun.

[B]

And it just, it just blew our mind. And again that giving and that generosity that kept coming into our life time and time again when we don't deserve it and you know, things are just, it's just amazing. And this summer coming up in the new year, we are celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary and we're doing a renewal and we are taking all of our family and all of our friends, Turks and Caicos and we're paying for the whole thing. We're doing, you know, the all inclusive resorts and the whole shebang and that's, that's our giving generosity story.

[A]

Wow. So 24 years ago you were 13, so you're 37.

[B]

36, yeah.

[A]

36, okay. Wow. I mean, because 911 feels emotionally for most of us like that were alive at that time. Like yesterday. Of course, 24 years ago you were a kid and now you're a 37 year, 36 year old man who's taking people to Turks and Caicos. Pretty cool, man. Pretty cool.

[B]

Thank you. Thanks to your team and the Ramsey plan. That's the way we're able to do it.

[A]

Wow. Wow. And I would imagine, I mean I have the Todd Beamer story and several of the other stories around 9 11, I had friends that were writing the books and doing the stuff and were involved in getting the stories out on some of the heroes that were involved. And I would imagine you kept learning for years about different things with your dad having gone back in time and time again to get other people out. It sounds like.

[B]

Yeah. He was the property manager of World Trade two and he knew everyone he knew everyone in the building, and he was just that light, that. That type of personality. Everyone would say, hey, Bobby, how are you? Hey, how are you? And we have a bit of a timeline of his morning and step by step and everything that we know, people who he's helped, people who he saved, and. And even though he didn't make it out, he got a medal from President Bush a couple years after 9 11. And that was. It was very. It was very special. And we got to go to the White House and it was. It was beautiful.

[A]

Yeah. Wow. Wow. That's incredible. Fabulous story. Thank you, John. Thanks for sharing the details.

[B]

Yeah. Generosity in times of good, that's fun. But generosity in times of grief and trauma, that'll change you forever.

[A]

Shifts, everything.

[B]

That's legacy.

[A]

Yeah. And, you know, and the thing about that is you don't get to choose your timing. If you're the person doing the giving, you got to be ready when it happens.

[B]

You gotta be ready for spontaneous giving.

[A]

Exactly. You gotta have this instantaneous reaction there. Student loan debt is an epidemic. Defaulting on debt makes you feel even worse. But our question of the day sponsor, why refi refinances defaulted private student loans and builds a custom loan based on your ability to pay. You'll have a payment you can afford with a low fixed interest rate that you couldn't get anywhere else. Go to y refi.com ramsey. That's the letter Y. Ramsey might not be in all states.

[B]

And in honor of our giving show, we're going to do a giving story instead of a question of the day. So today's giving story comes from Morgan in North Carolina. An older couple came into the small bank where I worked to open a checking account. The husband mentioned he was expecting a wire of over $1 million. Immediately, my alarm bells went off. Someone had contacted him claiming to be the executor of a cousin's estate with documents and a website to create legitimacy. When I pointed out the flaws in the documents, the customer was devastated. He had no car and had planned to get one with his newfound wealth so that he could provide for his family. Every year, I collect money and donate items in my papa's honor. I called a friend who has an auto repair shop and asked him for help. God was working behind the scenes, and he knew someone who was selling a reliable van. The lady who owned it lowered the price to the exact amount we had to spend. We called the couple to let them know we had a surprise for them and were heading to their home. The man and his wife broke down in tears when they saw the van. He had just gotten home after walking in the freezing cold to get a loaf of bread. I'll never forget squeezing the keys in his hand and saying that he would finally be able to provide for his family again.

[A]

Wow, man. Oh, and that's, like, off the back end of an almost scam.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

He was getting scammed. And she puts a stop to it. As a, you know, brilliant bank employee looking up and seeing this is not real. You're getting scammed because they were getting ready to do a switch on him is what they were doing.

[B]

He turned it from grift to grace.

[A]

Oh, there we go.

[B]

There's the book. They're gonna make a movie about it. That title's free.

[A]

Yeah, it'd be a Hallmark movie if they use that, but yeah. Yeah. Wow, man. That's good, George. You got talent.

[B]

I got more. The grift that keeps on giving. No. All right, I'll be here all week. That's a really cool story, though.

[A]

That is fun.

[B]

And again, you have to be able to look up and see the opportunity. When you're so focused on your own situation, your own money problems, it hurts your ability to give.

[A]

Well, when you have a car and you didn't have a car, you can go to work. And when you go to work, you can provide for his family. That's what he's crying about. I mean, that's real. So, I mean, you give somebody a $2,000 car, you change their life. You give somebody a $4,000 car, you change their life. And by the way, you can do 10 of those for only 40,000.

[B]

That's cool to think about. Put that on your bucket list of generosity.

[A]

I mean, cars are like. You start giving away cars, you're like Oprah. I mean, come on. Really? I mean, even if they're $2,000 cars or old minivans, that come from the mechanic.

[B]

Yeah. If your car doesn't work or you don't have one, a $2,000 car might as well be $100,000.

[A]

And this lady felt like Oprah handing the keys over to that. And he's squeezing those keys in his hand going, yes, I now got a shot. I got a chance.

[B]

Well, she gave him dignity. She gave him hope.

[A]

Absolutely. Both. Very cool. Very good. Every year, I collect money and donate items in my papa's honor. There you go, man.

[B]

Seeing a theme here. Legacy, Paying it forward, Contagious generosity.

[A]

Special annual giving show your own, the Ramsey Show. Mortgage rates have dropped, so if you're thinking about buying a home in the next year, contact your local Churchill mortgage team right now. If you wait, more people will be in the market competing for the same homes and potentially driving up prices. Churchill will help you do the math to be sure your budget is correct, making your home a blessing and helping you build lasting wealth. Learn more@churchill mortgage.com Churchill mortgage.com this is.

[B]

A paid advertisement in MLS ID 1591 in mlsconsumeraccess.org/equal housing lender, 1749 Mallory Lane, Suite 100, Brentwood, TN 37027.

[A]

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. George Camel, Ramsey, personality number one best selling author, is my co host. Today as we do our annual giving show brought to you by Convoy of Hope. They're a faith based organization that partners with local churches and civic groups to provide relief to people affected by disasters and hunger. This is a trustworthy organization. They've been doing this for 30 years and they do a great job. We want to honor their sponsorship today by having you guys go to their website, convoyofhope.org Ramsey it's an opportunity for you to support their mission. And they'll show up at places like Asheville, North Carolina, where they were some of the first on the ground and there'll be some of the last on the ground because they're still there. After the TV cameras left, I met Hal, the founder of Convoy for Hope, a couple of years back at an event and he and I got to spend some time together. Had an instant connection because he spends his whole life serving people that are struggling in one way or another and has devoted what is now hundreds of millions of dollars of donations annually of food and all kinds of things all over the world. So today we've got Ed Garvin with us. Ed is the senior vice president, chief partnership officer at conference Convoy of Hope. And Ed's a former pastor, joined Convoy of Hope. Matter of fact, Ed and I had spent some time together. We did an event at his old church down in Orlando at Calvary one time. So welcome Ed. Good to have you.

[B]

Well, it's an honor to be with you today.

[A]

Good to have you, sir. And we're honored to have Convoy of Hope as a part of our giving show. It fits in just perfectly because when those big trucks roll in, when people are hurting, they start smiling because they know help is on the way. They know they're getting ready to be some food Getting ready to be some water, getting ready to be some chainsaws on the ground or whatever is needed. So very cool stuff. So talk about how hal began this 30 years ago and how this thing has evolved because the scale is enormous today. And, you know, this, this evolution over 30 years. What are you guys most proud of there?

[B]

Yeah, I think of everything that Convoy of Hope does, the fact that we bring lasting change and move people from desperation to resiliency, that really is the hallmark of Convoy of Pope's missional footprint.

[A]

Right. And in the old days, they just started out and it was the first thing they did was what, when Hal first started it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So convu.

[B]

Hope started in 1994. It actually, it was the outgrowth of how his background is in journalism. And he was asked to go to Calcutta, India, to. To ghost. Write a book for some missionaries that were based in Calcutta. And while he was there, he was asked, as part of the book, to interview Mother Teresa.

[A]

Whoa.

[B]

Yeah. And so while he's interviewing Mother Teresa, she, as one would expect, she turns the tables and looks at him and says, young man, what are you doing to respond to the needs of the poor and suffering?

[A]

Just get called out by Mother Teresa. That'll do it. Drop.

[B]

Well. And in that moment, you might think about lying, but I don't think you should. Yeah. And so Hal was honest and he said, I'm really not doing much of anything. And she looked at him and said, young man, everyone can do something. Just do the next kind thing. And as a young man, this shook him. He took 30 days when he got back to the United States, going to some of the major cities in America in and seeing the plight of the poor and suffering. And out of that, emptied his bank account and started distributing food to the microorgan in California where he lived at the time. And out of that, Convoy of Hope was born. And now, some 30 years later, Convoy of Hope last year alone helped more than 37 million people at scale.

[A]

Yeah. All because Mother Teresa asks a pointed question and that begins the journey. And so what are some of the different areas you guys have that our listeners can jump in and support? What are some things they would. Where they would see you and know you're there?

[B]

Yeah. One of the things that I love about Convoy of Hope is that it does have a neighbors to nation strategy. And so we're. We're involved all across America.

[A]

We.

[B]

One of the big things that we do is we do disaster relief. We have responded to.

[A]

Right.

[B]

At 100 disasters already this year. That what that looks like an example would be Asheville, North Carolina. That area responding to Hurricane Helene, Convoy of Hope has delivered more than 200 semi loads of relief supplies into that devastated area. We are the. The. The missional footprint of Convoy of Hope reaches around the world. We're currently feeding right at 600,000 children. We do that every school day. We have more than 40,000 women and girls that are in our women's empowerment program. Globally, we're training more than 35,000 farmers. And so Convoy of Hope does everything from children's feeding to coming alongside rural churches in America and helping people move from poverty to that place of resiliency.

[A]

So it's not necessarily just a triage to stop the bleeding, but you also come along and help them completely heal so that poverty's in the rearview mirror. You can't have sustainable programs in these situations. That's important. So we look at. In the Ramsey foundation, one of the things we look at when we're doing giving to organizations, we look at their operations costs and how much is actually going to the need. And you guys are, man, the numbers are you're only doing about 10% for operations. Everything else, 90% is going out the door to serve the needy and serve the distressed. How do you guys keep your ops so low?

[B]

Yeah, so we're blessed by having an amazing Volunteer Army. 136,000 volunteers last year, which allowed us, like, our overhead rate last year was 8.4%. And we'll probably be somewhere in that area again this year. But having exceptional partners and an army of volunteers really allows us to make the difference. That's impressive. So I want to speak to the person out there who wants to give their. They may, you know, go. I don't know if this is trustworthy organization. How do you get someone who has not given to go? All right, I'm going to jump into this cause. What is this target demo there? What gets them to give? Well, you know, when we think about our. When we think about our giving, when we think about what we're doing philanthropically, we. We really do want to make sure that we're operating with wisdom. And so my encouragement would be, whether it's Convoy of Hope or any other organization, make sure that you do the homework and. And. And make sure that you dig beneath the surface. And one of the things that I love, I was a. So I was a donor to Convoy of hope for 15 years before I joined the organization on the team. And one of the things I love about Convoy of Hope is it's actually more impressive even from the inside than it was from the outside. And, and if you look, if you look at the various accountability organizations, you're going to find that consistently Convoy of Hope, that we get the highest of marks.

[A]

Very good. Good stuff. Ed Garvin, the senior vice president chief partnership officer at Convoy of hope. He spent 22 years of his life serving as a lead pastor. Now is serving this organization as they serve distressed and needy and hungry all around the world and in your backyard. They're our sponsor for our annual giving show today. First time we've ever had a sponsor in 30 years of this particular show. So it, and it made sense to have Convoy be that. So we're honored to have you guys along, partnering with us and honored to let our audience know about you guys. Thanks. Thanks for dropping by, Ed.

[B]

It was a joy.

[A]

Merry Christmas. Convoyofhope.org Ramsey this is the Ramsey Show.

[B]

Foreign.

[A]

Hey guys, I've never done this before but I'm partnering with a nutrition company, Field of Greens. Each fruit and vegetable in field of Greens is selected by doctors to support heart, liver and kidney health plus metabolism for healthy weight. And your doctor will notice your improved health or field of Greens will give you your money back. I can get behind a promise like that. Go to fieldofgreens.com Ramsey and get 15% off with promo code Ramsey fieldofgreens.com Folks, the Ramsey Christmas cash giveaway is here and you could win big. We're giving away $500 prizes each week and one grand prize of $5,000. Enter daily for your chance to win at Ramsey Solutions.com giveaway it's that easy. Plus our 50 days of Christmas deals is on right now. Get up to 30% off best sellers and life changing gifts that won't break the holiday budget. Ramsey Solutions.com/store George Camel, Ramsey personality is my co host today. This is our annual giving show where we take calls from you to tell your generosity stories where you are receiving or giving generosity and do that to inspire everyone out there and remind everyone out there there's a lot of good human beings walking this planet. They're everywhere. Brought to you by Convoy of Hope today. The phone number here, Triple 882-55225. Jocelyn is in Knoxville. Hi Jocelyn. Merry Christmas.

[B]

Hi. Hi Dave. Hi George. Thank you for having me on.

[A]

Sure. Tell us your generosity story.

[B]

I would love to. So just a quick backstory. My grandfather's best friend through school. Once he graduated and got married, him and his wife needed somewhere to stay. So my great grandparents Let them rent a cabin that they had in Gatlinburg for a couple years when they went to move out. My great grandparents then gifted them all that rent money that they had paid just as a gift to jumpstart to life. So fast forward 50 plus years, my grandma's randomly like, hey, I want you to go out to eat and meet somebody. So my family and I, we got to eat and I walk up and I meet this older man, he's in his mid-80s, and we sit down and he starts talking about how him and my grandpa were best friends. My grandpa had passed since then, and he's telling me all these stories that they shared and he ended with in his honor and because of the friendship they had, he would like to send me to school. So I got to choose any college I wanted to go to. He would pay for my. Yes, he would pay for my tuition, my housing, and also wanted to gift an allowance because he did not want me to work to concentrate on school. And the only requirements he had was that I keep above a 3.0 and that I would meet with him after every semester. And so that's what I would do. I would drive to his house, I'd pick him up, we would go eat, we would talk about everything. We would talk about my grades, how everything was going. And in 2016, I graduated completely debt free from college. And I would like to add, because he did that for me years later, now my brother is about to graduate in May from college with his engineering degree. And after all his. My parents will actually have put him through school with the help of his. What he had got from school as well. So he will graduate debt free.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

So all because of what my great grandparents did. Now, 50 plus years later, we've. My brother and I have both, that it came around to us. So.

[A]

Wow. The ripple effect of that is pretty cool.

[B]

Yeah. How do you even choose when the world is your oyster? What college did you end up going to? When did you study? I actually, I went to etsu and I got my bachelor's in mass communication. So public relations and advertising is what my concentration was.

[A]

From East Tennessee State.

[B]

Yes, sir.

[A]

Yeah. Okay. Wow. So that was near home, of course, since you're in Knoxville, right?

[B]

It was, yeah. It was, yeah.

[A]

Okay. Very cool. Very cool. That's neat. So I'm thinking, so this guy's 85 and he was 20. So when they were renting the cabin in Gatlinburg and got the money back from your great grandparents and he was friends with your grandfather I got that right.

[B]

Yes. And I. Yes. And I never got to meet my grandfather. He. He passed when my dad was actually young, so I believe him and my grandma actually lost the connection there at some point, and they ran into each other randomly and started talking and that sparked their conversation on. Well, do you have grandkids? And that's.

[A]

How did your grandmother even know the Gatlinburg story before they bumped into each other?

[B]

No, she knew. She knew of him. They were best friends and she knew him. But as far as knowing that rent story, I'm not really sure if she knew that beforehand or not.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

He was waiting a long time for some payback and he got the idea talking to grandma. I know, exactly.

[A]

I really like this guy. This is class.

[B]

Yeah. This is very well done since. Since this has happened. He did. He did pass in 2020, but he has a special place in my heart. He really did change my life. And the ripple effect to that, he. He really did make a difference.

[A]

Man, that's pretty serious. That is so cool. I love this story because it took so long to unfold.

[B]

Yeah. Then my grandparents just has good faith and he was a great friend. They did that and here I am.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So it was. It was something that I will never forget. And, you know, I knew it was a big deal when I was young, in my twenties, but as I get older, you know that those acts of kindness, they mean more and more. As you get older, you realize how much of a deal that was.

[A]

Oh, man. Well, he took that in his heart and for 40 years or whatever, 50 years, you know, he's carrying. Carrying it around. I mean, 25, 60 years, from 20s, 80s, you're right. You know, and then 60 years later has a chance to bring it back around. That's pretty stinking incredible right there. I love that.

[B]

I like the long tail on that.

[A]

Yeah. Amen. Carla is in Nashville. Merry Christmas, Carla. Tell us your generosity story.

[B]

Merry Christmas, Dave and George. Thanks for having me on. Sure. In January of 2021, our 13 year old son Brett was diagnosed with leukemia. And the day that he was diagnosed, we were told he might not make it through the night. Yes. His white blood cell count was 865,000, which normal is between like 4,000 and 11,000.

[A]

Whoa.

[B]

So they basically described his blood being like sludge. So it was causing, you know, problems with every organ. He spent 19 days in the pediatric ICU at Le Bonner in Memphis, and then a week of that, he was in a coma. So at one point during that, they had they called family in to say goodbye, and the staff was just surprised. Every day he just kept making it. And so we had thousands of people that were following. We had a Facebook page, brave like Brett, where people were going to check for updates. And we had people praying for Brett from all over the United States and from over 40 countries.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

So after that first 19 days in the ICU, he was transferred over. It was just five minutes away, but it took that long to get him stable enough to be able to transfer to St. Jude, where he spent the next 300 days. And so when he got there, he couldn't hold his head up. He could barely wiggle his toes. He couldn't remember, you know, what had happened 30 seconds before, which honestly at times was a blessing that he couldn't remember some of those things going on. He just faced overwhelming odds over and over for the next, you know, 11 months. While we were there, he had a brain bleed, had lost most of his vision. He had multiple relapses with his cancer. And in August of that year, he received a bone marrow transplant. And his brother was the donor. His brother Bond was a 100% match. And so that was a huge blessing. And we were able to go home in December of that year. So his doctors that were with him from the beginning, from the very beginning, called him a miracle. And they, tears would roll down their face, you know, and they would see him coming back for follow ups. They had never really even seen him walk, you know, the time that they had had him. And so Brett is currently he's 17. He's three years post transplant. We have moved to Nashville. He is legally blind now, continues to have the short term memory loss challenges, has some mobility deficits, but he's attending high school full time. He's involved in church and best buddies at school. So he is currently cancer free.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

There. This all happened during COVID so we weren't allowed any visitors, so there were so many people, though, that were so generous during that time. And so, I mean, we had our next door neighbor mowed our yard for an entire year, just without anyone asking, just did it. My husband and I were both coaches. Referees would just sign over their checks. You know, at our ball games, sometimes they would do that. So all your financial needs were just miraculously covered by community? We had lots of help from lots of different people, for sure. That's special.

[A]

So glad he's doing so well. That's pretty cool. Miracle comeback. I love it. This is the real Ramsey show.

[B]

Are you determined to get out of debt and build wealth this new year, then don't leave out an important step which is having the right insurance. Don't make the mistake of thinking you can get by with minimal coverage or no coverage at all because when Murphy comes knocking, and he will, you'll start backsliding further into debt if you don't have the money to pay for it and if you don't have the right insurance. So take our insurance coverage checkup. We make it easy with a free tool that helps you find out if you have all of your bases covered. To check it out, go to ramseysolutions.com checkup. That's ramseysolutions.com.

[A]

It'S our annual giving show here on the Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us, being part of the program today, America. Well, Christmas is here. Can you believe it's here? I mean it's amazing. Last minute shoppers out there, game time. Obviously this is your last chance to grab some life changing gifts like books and tools. Up to 30% off right now. We've got deals running right now and they end on Friday. So hurry before they're gone. Like the total money makeovers. 30% off. Building a Non Anxious Life by Dr. John Deloney's 30% off. Breaking Free from Broke, George's number one bestseller is on sale. Classic Questions for Humans deck cards by Dr. DeLoney on sale just $12. Check it all out at ramseysolutions.com store. Click on the deals and they're everywhere. Our annual generosity, our annual giving show. This particular version brought to you by the fine folks at Convoy of Hope and Landry is next in Oklahoma City. Merry Christmas, Landry.

[B]

Merry Christmas.

[A]

So tell us your generosity story.

[B]

Okay. Well first I just want to say my name is Landry Johnson. I'm a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma. And now I'm going to just give a little backstory. So when I was 15, my father, no Orlando Johnson, passed away to suicide very abruptly during this time. I was 15 and my older brother was 17. Obviously we're getting ready to go off to college and it was definitely just a lot going on. Not only did my father take his own life, before taking his life, he shot my stepmom six times.

[A]

Oh my God.

[B]

And just during this time, it was very hard financially, mentally, in every single way.

[A]

Trauma.

[B]

Yeah, it was a lot going on all at once, especially for a 15 year old girl. We were also traveling back to and from Oklahoma to Texas to see my stepmom. While she was in the hospital. We were definitely very much there for her, a lot of it. But obviously hospital bills and all the things like that. It was a lot. And then we found out my dad didn't have life insurance. He also didn't have a will of any sort, which just left me and my brother and my stepmom just in a very hard place. Because my brother Christopher and I were both getting ready to go off to college and we didn't really have those funds set up because we weren't expecting this to just happen. No one was expecting him to just do what he did. So my brother and I immediately just started looking for scholarships and things like that once we got our heads in the right space. My brother is now at Texas State and I'm at obviously the University of Oklahoma. But during our research, we found a website called Life Happens. And through this website, it has a bunch of different scholarships for kids who have lost parents that didn't have life insurance. And one of those companies is called Zander Insurance, which is the company that so gratefully and graciously gave me my scholarship and the scholarship that I got with them. I get it every year, so it's reoccurring. And it's actually the scholarship that puts me to where I need to be so I don't have to take out any student loans and I'm debt free from college because of the scholarship, which is truly just a blessing. Yeah. So not only has it opened doors for education community meeting people, it's put me in a place where my situation as losing my father isn't going to define my future based off that.

[A]

Amazing. You're amazing. Wow. You come through that trauma and you got a head on your shoulders like this and you're a sophomore in college. You're impressive. I'm proud of you. Good work.

[B]

Xander chose well.

[A]

Yes, they did.

[B]

Yeah, they're awesome.

[A]

So what are you studying?

[B]

I'm studying healthcare administration with a minor in marketing.

[A]

I bet. Yeah. That's perfect. Very good. Very cool. And you're extremely well spoken, young lady. I'm proud of you. You just came on in front of millions of people and handled that like a pro.

[B]

Thank you. I appreciate that. Wishing you the best with the rest of college. And I forgive my ignorance, I didn't know Xander did that. So that's a really cool program they have.

[A]

I knew they did a lot of generosity things and they have all kinds of different things they do and giving and that we have participated in. I was not aware of that one.

[B]

That's pretty cool.

[A]

That's very interesting.

[B]

Jeff Sander about that next time you guys hang out.

[A]

Yeah, we'll send him a clip of this. He'll. That'll make his eyes leak. That's a good thing because I like watching Jeff cry. It's fun.

[B]

Well, it's cool to see the. The other side because when you're Xander, you give out the scholarship, you may not hear from them. So it's cool to see the. The progress and momentum, and that's pretty amazing. She's changed her life because of this. Going to school debt free.

[A]

For those of you not figuring out what we're talking about, Jeff Zander is Zander Insurance, and he's been an advertiser on the show for. For. We've advertised for him for people to, oddly enough, get life insurance. That's where we send you to to get life insurance. And they shop among a bunch of different companies, get you the best deal. Obviously, Landry's dad did not have that. And that's how this all set up. And that's probably why they give to this particular fund, you know, is a way to give back, so to speak. And so they. We've endorsed that company for, gosh, 30, almost 30 years, and sent people there by the hundreds of thousands over the years. And then he turns around with some of the profits from that, running that organization and does this. So what a great generosity story.

[B]

Love that.

[A]

Well done, Jeff. I'm proud of you, my friend. Well done, Landry. You handled that call like a pro. You told that story beautifully. I don't know many sophomores in college can do that.

[B]

No, that's pro level right there.

[A]

Yeah. Well played.

[B]

Teaching her well at University of Oklahoma.

[A]

Well played. Danielle is in Grand Junction. Hi, Danielle. Merry Christmas.

[B]

Hi. Hi. How are you?

[A]

Better than I deserve. Tell us your generosity story.

[B]

Okay, so my husband and I are both educators in a small school. And in 2018, there's a theme I've noticed today. It's in the show, but unfortunately, we lost two students to suicide. And it was one of the hardest things as an educator that we've had to go through. And we decided. We were on baby step six, and we decided to go ahead and take a goal that we had for baby step seven. And we went ahead and started a college scholarship in the name of my brother. His name was Evan. And we raise money and we give scholarships to students at our high school. And so far, to date, since then, we've been able to give 15 scholarships ranging from $750 to. Actually, I'll pause real quick and say that where we get the funds is we don't. I have an annual fundraiser in the summertime, and the students at this school will help me put on the fundraiser. And we sell food, burritos and salsa. And the community is extremely generous. And so I'll tell people that, you know, the food costs a certain amount, but they'll tip me like crazy because they know that every dollar that they give to us will go straight to the college scholarship, straight to the kids. And the reason why we wanted to do the scholarship is because the loss was, you know, felt really real to us. And we wanted to have change in the community, but we also knew that we couldn't, that we would prefer that the scholarship be more about going to school without loans than mental health. And so our focus is on teaching kids, also on how to go to school without any loans.

[A]

Love it. Love it. That's well played. And you said you've done how many scholarships so far?

[B]

We have given out 15 so far, and we've awarded over $64,000 in scholarships.

[A]

I love it.

[B]

Based off. Yeah, it's really. It's a community, like, the community is very generous, plus we have some really generous donors. And how the kids have qualified for the scholarship is they have to listen to the Borrowed Future or watch the documentary, and they have to come up to us and let us know how they're going to school without loans. And so our scholarship renews every year for up to $10,000. And I'm proud to say quite a few of these kids, I know it's made a difference and them going to school. We changed their mindset and they go to school without any loans. And that makes me very proud. And it's the only positive thing I can say that came from the losses that we had.

[A]

Yeah. Wow. You ought to be proud. I'm proud of you. Listen to this story.

[B]

What a great reminder. You don't have to give a lot personally, but Danielle was bold and said, I'm going to start this thing. And the community, you know, rallied around it and made it happen.

[A]

You just got to raise it up or have a vision.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

And beautifully done. Beautifully done and tied to it. The whole debt free thing, they get to see George.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

On Borrowed Future.

[B]

That's fun.

[A]

There we go. Yeah.

[B]

I wouldn't call it a feature, but there it is.

[A]

That's was a cameo. This is the Ramsey show.

[B]

Foreign.

[A]

What if this Christmas you could give more than presents under the tree? What if you could give a gift that changes lives and transforms the next generation. You can. When you donate foundations and personal finance to a high school in your community, you make it possible for students to learn to budget, save, and avoid debt and give them the confidence and direction they need for a brighter future. Find out how to give@ramsey solutions.com sponsor or if you're listening on YouTube or a podcast, just click the link in the description. It's our annual giving show on generosity here on the Ramsey Show. George Camel, Ramsey personality, is my co host today. Frank is with us in Nashville. Hey, Frank. Merry Christmas.

[B]

Merry Christmas to you and George. Dave, thanks for taking our call.

[A]

Absolutely. Tell us your story about generosity.

[B]

Well, Linda and I began over giving about seven years ago. We were in a restaurant, and on the way in, we noticed a van, a couple of people in the van, young children, and they stayed out there. We went in, we had our dinner, and they came in. Just before we finished our dinner, they finally came in. They talked with the owner and the server. They were trying to bargain for two buffet payments for a meal to feed them two and their three kids. And so we're in earshot of this, and we heard what was going on. And finally the. The owner finally agreed to have the minimum take some stuff for the kids. But then we went over to the table. As we finished our dinner, we went over to the table and we wished them merry Christmas and happy holiday and we told them that we will buy all five of their meals. And we told the server that it was going to be on us and we were going to pay for it. And we then emptied our pockets of whatever cash we had, which is just over $100 or so, and we gave it to that couple. They. They definitely seemed to be maybe passing through, definitely destitute and looking for need.

[A]

So we responded, absolutely. Well done, sir. Well played. Well played. The good news is they got a full belly and you got a great story for the rest of your life.

[B]

Absolutely. And. And that changed our life after that. We had already been millionaires a little bit before that. And we said, you know, we're just not giving enough. We have no children. There's no one for us to leave this to, except our nieces and nephews, which, you know, we do help on occasion. And we said, you know, we need to just give better. Give more. Give better. Better tipping, better involvement with certain causes, you know, charities and veterans associations, because, you know, I'm a veteran and, you know, we need to boost up the population.

[A]

Yeah. Well done, Frank. Well done. I like it. I like it a lot. You know, and the interesting thing is, folks, Frank story is Merry Christmas to you, Frank. The Frank story is just a reminder. All you got to do is just lift your eyes up just a little bit and look around the room. There's somebody somewhere in the room. I mean, all the time. There's you at the gas pump, at the, wherever. I mean, you're, there's, there's.

[B]

If you just start listening and start looking, you will find so many opportunities to give. It's amazing.

[A]

And you know, where occasionally 100 bucks makes a big difference, you know, just a hundred bucks, I mean, you got a million.

[B]

Well, and just the surprise element of kindness is just so shocking in today's culture that it really does change a person's day, their week, maybe even their year.

[A]

And here's what's interesting. The power of giving. What it does is it reshapes when you give regardless, really of what you give too. But the more personal it is, like Frank's situation or some of these stories we've had in the last couple hours here are just incredible. When you give, it reshapes and changes you permanently. You are moving along the spectrum from selfish to selfless. And generous. People are highly attractive because they smile more. It's hard to find someone who's depressed, who's generous. If you're outrageously generous, these are some of the smiliest people you'll run into. You know, it's hard to find someone you know. If you're outlandishly generous, it spills over into your marriage. If you're crazy generous, it spills over into your parenting. You're the one that holds the door for someone. You're the one that picks up the groceries when the bag drops out the bottom of it and stuff's rolling all over the parking lot. And you help and stop, it reshapes who you are because you become by definition other centered rather than self centered, selfish. And that's the beautiful thing about these stories, is it reveals that someone was looking outside of themselves. George, we've had some great stories written in too. Pick one of them up.

[B]

Oh, yeah, this one's from Carl in Knoxville, Tennessee. Here's what he had to say. My wife is vision impaired. Every time we buy tickets for a concert, we always have to buy as close as possible so she can somewhat see the show. A lot of times that includes using third party vendors to get the better tickets. The Eagles had a concert at Thompson Bowling arena in Knoxville, April 1, 2023. We bought a pair of tickets for around 1200 bucks. A week or so later, we found a better pair of tickets for 1100 bucks. We decided to purchase the second set and turn around and sell the first to recoup our money. To make a long story short short, we tried for over a month and could not sell our tickets. We drove to Knoxville the night before the concert, and the day of the concert, we decided to eat at one of our favorite restaurants in Knoxville. And it was about three or four hours before showtime and we still had the two extra tickets. That is when my wife and I decided to give the $1200 tickets to our server. She was a grandma and raising her two grandkids and a very nice lady. We asked her if she had plans that evening and she said no. We then asked her if she liked the Eagles. She said she did, and we asked her if she'd like to go to the concert for free.

[A]

Whoa.

[B]

It took us about an hour working with her phone and hours to transfer the tickets on Ticketmaster, but we did get it taken care of and even gave her a big tip on top of that to cover her parking. The concert was fantastic, but my wife and I enjoyed blessing her and her husband even more than the concert itself. It was the first concert she had ever been to. And the Eagles is a great first concert to go. Absolutely. She texted us after the concert and told us she and her husband had a wonderful time and thanked us again. Best $1200 my wife and I have ever spent.

[A]

Biggest tip that waitress ever got, too.

[B]

That's the truth. And I know Dave, you're a big Eagles fan and you're. And you know, being a Knoxville fan, it's all there. This is a very Dave story. If I had to make one up.

[A]

I had nothing to do with the story, but it does. Yeah, it's all around.

[B]

If I said, chad, GPT, give me a generosity story that Dave will love. It's going to involve the Eagles and Knoxville.

[A]

You didn't do that. That's not a made up. This is a real AI story. That's a real story. It's just really happened and I had nothing to do with it. I'll just say, but yeah, that's pretty incredible. That's fun and, you know, it's interesting. Again, this whole thing, the formation of character comes out in this. That's pretty stinking cool right there. This woman is waiting. Honey, what happened at work today? I got a twelve hundred dollar tip in the form of Eagle.

[B]

In the form of Eagle concerts.

[A]

That's wild. Yeah, that's very cool. Very cool. Hey, folks, the next segments of the Ramsey show are on the Ramsey Network app only or talk radio only. And so if you want to tune into those, you need to download the Ramsey Network app. You always get the last segment of the show by having the Ramsey Network app. You can get the first segments of the show in video, audio, whatever. You can search the show by questions. If you got a certain question you want answered, it'll pull up calls from that. You can send us emails directly through the Ramsey Network app. It costs absolutely nothing. There is no subscription and no salesman will call. So if you'd love to have more Ramsey Network stuff, including the back ends of this show, the place to do that would be the Ramsey Network app. And again, you can download that for free on wherever great apps are sold, right? Although this one is not sold, it's free. So check it out over at the Apple Store or Google Play or whatever else you need to do to get an app in. And you know, you'll really enjoy picking up the rest of the story. As Paul Harvey used to say. There you go. So good stuff. Good stuff, folks. I can't inspire you enough. I can't remind you enough. The power of giving and what how it loosens up your view of life, how it changes your peripheral vision, how it changes the way you walk through this life versus, you know, being so inward focused, you become outward focused and it just makes you highly attractive. So one of the reasons we love to teach on and preach on and encourage generosity any possible way we can. That puts this hour of the Ramsey show in the books.

[B]

What up, what up? It's Dr. John DeLoney from the Dr. John DeLoney show with some amazing news. The latest episode of United States of Anxiety is available right now exclusively on the Ramsey Network app. This docu series follows real people from my show as they embark on a 90 day journey to transform their lives. And I personally walk alongside them every step of the way. Okay, now here's a sneak peek of what the new episode is all about. And don't forget to click the link in the show notes to download the app. What's up, Kelsey? So I've lived with crippling anxiety for as long as I can remember. How do I stop it from constantly coming up in different areas of my life? What does crippling anxiety mean? Paint me a picture of that. All right, so you ready to jump in? I'm ready to jump in. We're gonna check in with Kelsey. 30 days, 60 days, 90 days. I cannot even function because I'm just crying. My mom left us when I was 4. I truly felt like for a while I had no family. She's experiencing things that really hurt a long time ago. Tell me about this boy. He triggers me a lot. Scared of losing Paul. Scared of doing the wrong thing. Scared of not being enough. It just feels like it would be exhausting to be Kelsey. It is. Whenever somebody's playing whack a mole with their anxiety, when it just keeps moving, that tells me the underlying system's not okay. How do I get my inner child out of this relationship? Because I feel like she's running the show. One of two people that's supposed to never leave took off. I was this. I was this burden. You burdened. That's right. To the one person who should carry it. All of it. Did you ever tell that little girl that it wasn't her fault? I don't know what to do. You either have to choose to let this guy love you, or you gotta choose to let this guy go.