Humility: Small People doing Small Things make a Big Difference

Season 2, Episode 1

Humility

“Small people doing small things together can make a big difference.” Meet Lucy, the 11 year old daughter of the Serve the City Baltimore director, Erin. Lucy has been volunteering for half her life in a variety of projects—including some on the mean streets of the inner city. She and her mom share with us how the humility of a kid serving others can make a big difference, now and in the years to come.

Listen to the episode here!

The first picture above shows Lucy several years ago in her “Day of Hope” t-shirt. This is the event that she talks about in the podcast, where service providers, along with the police, present a fair including free food and entertainment to make sure people in troubled neighbourhoods know they are not forgotten.

The second picture shows Lucy (aged 9) walking in these neighbourhoods along with adult volunteers to let people know about the upcoming event. (Note the police officer accompanying the group.) Lucy and her mom Erin related their experiences walking these streets to us in the podcast.

This interview was recorded back in 2021, but it was too good not to share with you!

Serve the City is all about values-based volunteering. It is not enough for us to simply do good things. It is essential that we do good things in personal, relational ways that honour the people we serve and invite them to serve with us. It is vital that we do good things, even if they are small, with a good heart. This is why we seek in our volunteering to enact our values: humility, compassion, respect, courage, love and hope. We believe that as we offer kindness out of these values, the small acts we do will transform our lives and those of the people we serve.

When we serve out of humility, we see ourselves as not too good to do small, even mundane, acts of kindness. We offer these acts not self-consciously, seeking to boost our own image, but focused on the other. And we can also realize that small people—like Lucy—have a lot to teach us about serving with humility.