The Ramsey Show - App - The 2022 Annual Christmas Giving Show (Hour 1)

Episode Date: December 14, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Rachel Cruze hear stories of outrageous generosity and explore the power of giving and receiving. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for... your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

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Starting point is 00:00:00 🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studios, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. We help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. The phone number here is 888-825-5225. But before you dial the number, you need to know that this show today is dedicated to generosity. So we're going to take calls from folks today that have a giving story, a generosity story.
Starting point is 00:01:13 They were on the receiving end or the giving end of generosity because it is the season. Tis the season. This is, well, Christmas reminds us how important generosity is. And it is live like no one else so that later you can live and give like no one else. Rachel Cruz, number one bestselling author, Ramsey Personality. And my daughter is my co-host today as we take your calls about giving. It's our annual generosity show, our annual giving show. So we want to hear from you.
Starting point is 00:01:46 If you've got a great giving story, you can jump in. The phone number, 888-825-5225. Merry Christmas to you. 888-825-5225. Kim is going to start off this hour in Canton, Ohio. Hi, Kim. Tell us your giving story. Merry Christmas. Hello, Dave. Hello, Rachel. Thank you for having me on the show.
Starting point is 00:02:12 This is my giving story. Back in February, my husband died of COVID, and I took a portion of the life insurance money and gave it towards my church's debt elimination. Wow. On November 26, my sons were there, and they saw me write the check, fill out the envelope. We laid hands and prayed over the check, and the boys put it in the offering. And my husband, he was an amazing giver. He gave to people all the time. He gave cars and trucks and vans and cash to families in need. He gave wood and fuel oil to older people that needed heat in the winter.
Starting point is 00:03:03 He just gave. It was who he was. And, um, it was such a blessing to be his wife. It's such a blessing to give in his honor and his legacy and our church, um, they're down to $270,000 left on their mortgage. And 12 years ago, it was a $14 million mortgage. Wow. Wow. That's so powerful, Kim. I'm so sorry for your loss.
Starting point is 00:03:36 Thank you. Thank you. That was the motivator, you know, for this. So I'm curious for you, when you received that life insurance, obviously his legacy was one of giving, right? The way you just described him is just beautiful. So what made you choose this specific way to give? Well, I felt that, you know, every year he gave to the legacy offering, and there's usually a project that the church is doing, and this was his life insurance money.
Starting point is 00:04:20 I wanted to give a tithe of it to the legacy offering so that he would continue giving throughout all the years as a legacy. I was going, he wanted me to retire he wrote these letters about me retiring and he had me call Dave I actually wrote a letter because I didn't think I could get through the phone call but Dave gave me a coach a financial coach her name name is Lisa, Lisa Barber. And I worked with her for the last 10 months. And throughout that process, I came to, I didn't want to retire. I want to continue to fulfill God's will for my life, which I'm a teacher. And I love teaching children how to read. I love being at the school. I feel like I'm here for such a time as this. So instead of taking a portion of the life insurance and buying out so that I could retire early, instead I decided to continue working, continuing following God's will for my life and take God's will for his life and pay,
Starting point is 00:05:22 you know, give it to the legacy of my husband for God's kingdom to grow. That's how I came about that whole process. Lisa helped me make these decisions, but I did make them myself, you know. Wow. Lisa's a precious lady. You got a hold of a good one there, so that's good stuff. God, I love her, yes. Yes, I do love her.
Starting point is 00:05:44 Thank you for giving me that. Yeah,. God, I love her. Yes. Yes, I do love her. Thank you. Thank you for giving me that. Yeah. What an eventful year you've had. Unbelievable highs, unbelievable lows. And it's very poignant, very beautiful. Great story. And how old are your sons?
Starting point is 00:05:58 I have a 26-year-old, a 24-year-old, and a 23-year-old. Okay. So these young men were able to sit there and see their dad's, see their mom write this check from their dad's life insurance into this, and they get to have that imprint on the rest of their life, that thumbprint on the rest of their life. That was very well played. Thank God that I was able to do that for all all you know for all to see that yeah amen thank you for sharing miss kim god bless you honey and a merry christmas to you that's a great story a horrible start uh to the story in a beautiful end or beautiful next step whatever you want to call
Starting point is 00:06:40 i don't know how to say how what you say saying that but uh uh without saying something dumb and awkward but yeah but uh uh it's amazing that when people are in pain uh that generosity is something that automatically comes to mind yeah that's what i was gonna say is that there's like a lot of these stories that we hear and that we'll probably hear today right that there's there's some level of people's stories that that pain is always a part of it right that that is that is a part of life and i think that that scale is different for everyone depending on their specific story uh but man the depths of that pain in her case i'm like was the depths of her longing in that selflessness right and i think that that's a way to even combat and and and i'm sure helped with the grief like there's a level two of when you're giving and serving,
Starting point is 00:07:28 you are putting your eyes elsewhere. And there's just beauty in that, absolute beauty. Generosity is considerably underrated as a healing agent. It completely changes the chemistry of your body. It completely changes the set of your emotions. It completely changes your spiritual walk. It literally will change the way you walk when you become generous. And the more outrageously generous you become, the more free you are as a person. You find very few people who are depressed who are outrageously generous something to think about because what happens is i mean chemicals
Starting point is 00:08:15 are released in your body that you get a high from being generous i mean it's it's unbelievable it is the most fun to have with money there's so much to it. It's so much more than the math. So much more than the individual person that's helped on the other end of the check. There's so many layers to this subject. This is the annual giving show on the Ramsey Show. And we want to hear from you. Rachel Cruz is with me. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Call us with your giving story or your receiving story.
Starting point is 00:08:46 We're celebrating generosity. Merry Christmas. rachel cruz ramsey personality number one best-selling author my daughter is my co-host today as we talk about giving today this is our annual giving show we're talking about generosity if you have a story about generosity giving or uh or or receiving that is inspiring and will help everyone all of us expand our our vision for generosity that's what this is for the phone number is 888-825-5225 wayne is in lincoln nebraska hi wayne welcome to the ramsey show hey thanks for having me sure my uh so after my first deployment i came came home in 2009 and was out running around eating all the food that i'd missed and stopped at a burger joint there
Starting point is 00:10:00 was a homeless man walking along the sidewalk. So I just offered to have lunch, offered for him to come have lunch with me. And we ended up talking for several hours, but he had gotten married in 1966. In 67, he was sent over to Vietnam where he was shot in the head and suffered some severe brain damage. He was unable to take care of himself. And true to their vows, his wife took care of him until the day that she died. And so for three years, he was completely homeless, had no idea what to do. We had lunch and I ended up working with some of my unit leadership and some local veterans organizations, and this guy ended up getting a full VA disability
Starting point is 00:10:52 and now has a place to stay in a VA veteran's home in the Dallas area. Wow. Man, you took it up. You took it up and ran with it. Way to go, dude. It doesn't take a huge act of money to completely change somebody's life, and I think sometimes people get overwhelmed with that thought. Yeah, it often takes more time than it does money.
Starting point is 00:11:21 In your case, that's for sure. Time and effort. Yeah. And a lot of caring yeah and that still is a um an act of generosity in a maybe even in a greater way because so many people don't have any time they don't take any time they don't have any margin in their lives to stop and concentrate on someone else for a few minutes they're busy doing themselves. What's his name, Wayne? Jared. Jared. Okay. So for you, as you know, you obviously have completely changed the course of his life, which is just absolutely incredible. And like you said, I love that it's more on that time and effort standpoint, not just money, right? You walked with him to be able to do that. So you changed his life. What ways has he impacted you on even a day-to-day basis? How has your life been shifted because of him?
Starting point is 00:12:13 Prior to that event happening, I'd kind of grown up with this belief that homeless people were lazy and drug addicts, the stereotype that's not always true. And after this, I started slowing down and really thinking, well, everybody's got a story. Everybody's really got problems. And it's never what it looks like on the surface. That's for sure. That's for sure. Everybody's got a story.
Starting point is 00:12:40 Wow. Powerful, dude. Powerful. Well done, sir. Thank you for calling with your story merry christmas to you wayne hey everyone that is calling in with their uh giving story today and the phone number here is 888-825-5225 will receive the live and give bundle the live and give box it has in it a one-year membership to financial peace university it has in it a one-year membership to Financial Peace University. It has in it a total money makeover book.
Starting point is 00:13:07 It has in it a Baby Steps Millionaires book. And that is on sale for $99, which is about 50, 60 bucks off of retail right now at RamseySolutions.com. But each of these callers will be getting that live and give box as they call in today and of course you know if you've got somebody that's just getting started with this stuff you hand them the total money makeover book maybe you're down the road a little ways and you're ready to start really doing your investing and you're going to read the baby steps millionaires book um maybe you've got someone that needs to go through financial peace university or maybe it's you so there's three different things there that apply to different situations, different places
Starting point is 00:13:48 people are in their money journey. And so the live and give box, be sure to check that out. And like I say, we're giving everybody that calls in today one. Mary is with us. Mary is in Atlanta, Georgia. Hi, Mary. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi.
Starting point is 00:14:03 Hi, Dave. Hi, Rachel. Thank you all so much for having me on the show to share our story. It's a small gift but one that I hope has been having a big positive impact on my niece and nephew. Love it. Tell us about it. So just a little bit of brief background. During COVID lockdown, my niece and nephew really started to struggle. They were both in middle school at the time. Their social life evaporated, their mental health plummeted, and they unfortunately started failing classes in virtual school. So at the time, my husband and I had just had our first baby. I was actually laid off in 2020 at seven months pregnant. So we were living off of just his income and our budget was
Starting point is 00:14:39 pretty tight. But we decided initially just to host each kid for a special weekend once a month to get them out of the house, take them to do very fun, cheap things in our neighborhood, and generally just love on them. My husband's sister actually joined us in this, and so it became this really fun family affair. Later, the three of us decided to offer a grade bounty. It was pretty generous, $20 for each A, 10 bucks for each B. And I am unbelievably happy to say that my niece has made a healthy return on the time she's invested in studying for about two years now. She just started high school this fall and earned a 4.0
Starting point is 00:15:16 her first semester. We're really, really proud of her. And so this is especially important because her parents do not have any money to pay for her college, but the state of Georgia will cover all of her tuition through the Hope Scholarship if she has at least a 3.0 GPA at the end of high school. So we've talked to her and she's asked us about student loans and how she could avoid them, and she is really eager to keep those out of her life, so we're very much encouraging her to do that. My nephew's also gotten himself a part-time job and his grades started to improve too. So I did want to just say thank you to y'all for the teaching and encouragement that you offer around financial generosity because I struggle with the scarcity mindset sometimes. So it's hard to do for me on occasion, but I really like the idea of living with an open hand and just practicing generosity like a muscle until you're good at it.
Starting point is 00:16:05 Amen. Well done. Good job, Mary. That's fun. Hey, be sure to walk those kids. The Borrowed Future documentary is free to watch on YouTube now. I know. We usually watch a movie when they come over for weekends, and I keep telling my husband,
Starting point is 00:16:19 let's watch Borrowed Future. It's very fun stuff on Disney+. That'll seal in the uh no uh no debt to college idea if you watch that you see how horrible the whole student loan system is yeah that'll seal that in for sure hey uh let me ask you something you said scarcity mindset and you're practicing a new muscle um what does it do to the scarcity mindset? My theory is that it moves you from scarcity towards abundance the more you're generous. Or maybe it's the other way around. Maybe after you move more towards abundance, you're willing to be more generous.
Starting point is 00:16:54 I don't know which is the cause, which is the effect, which is the chicken and the egg. What do you think, Mary? I really think it's about perspective because, you know, I'm sitting in my little house in Atlanta that my husband and I own thinking, oh, we don't have enough to give away. But there are so many people with less than that who really don't have enough that they could be generous. And so it's more about recognizing what's fear and what's fact and then deciding like that you want to share what you have with people that you really love or just people in your community. And I mean, once we started doing it really has gotten so much easier and so much more
Starting point is 00:17:33 joyful to do. I'm, I'm not going to lie. Like the first few times we did this, we started like giving money away. I was like, Oh God, how are we going to make the grocery budget this month? But really it's been absolutely fine. You hadn't missed a meal. No. Well, Mary, what I love about your story is I'm like, you were so, you took the needs very specifically of what they needed in the time, right?
Starting point is 00:17:57 So like during the lockdown, it's like they just needed to get out of the house. And that's what you provided. And then as they were starting to not do great in school, then you're like, okay, well, let's plug in here. So it's like, whether it's the time, the money, all of it. But being so intentional, Mary, which you really are in their lives to see what do they need
Starting point is 00:18:13 and what can you do to maybe help fill that gap. And so that's, I think that's amazing. So really, really well done. Yeah, extremely well done, Mary. Merry Christmas to you. Excellent, excellent job. It is, you know, that kind of intentionality comes from real love. And that's tied into real generosity.
Starting point is 00:18:33 This is The Ramsey Show. សូវាប់ពីបានប់ពីបានប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពី Merry Christmas, America. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author. My daughter is my co-host today. This is our annual giving show where we celebrate generosity, where you have been able to do something for someone or for something, and you want to celebrate that generosity, or maybe you're celebrating someone did something for you. It's okay. Either way, we all love these stories. Generous people make us smile. Generous people make our eyes leak. We
Starting point is 00:19:41 love generous people, and all of us do all humans do i mean you got to be a real weirdo to hate somebody that's generous so that's what we're celebrating this hour and this day on our annual giving show the phone number here is 888-825-5225 and part of this giving show tradition is we always bring in one of our or some of our 11 or some of our 1,100 members of Ramsey Solutions, our team members. And Jess is on the stage. Jessica's with us. And got a great giving story. Hey, Jess, how are you?
Starting point is 00:20:12 Doing good. How are y'all doing? Great. Great. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Well, tell everybody about your story. It's fabulous.
Starting point is 00:20:20 Yes. So you talk about people giving to you and you being able to give to other people. This story is a little bit of both. So about four and a half, actually five and a half years now, years ago now, we actually met the sweetest, most adorable little baby girl. And she was a family member to some of our church, church members there. And she couldn't be with her family. And she needed a home she needed parents and um i'm not a super cautious person but my husband is ultra cautious and normally has to think through things especially something very serious it's usually weeks sometimes months yeah parents just like serious parenting is pretty serious way up there on the serious scale yeah yes so but we just kind of made eye contact at church as as the request was being given to find a home for this little girl. And she's just adorable. And so we kind of make eye contact and didn't even have to talk about it.
Starting point is 00:21:14 We came together after that and said, are you in? Yep, I'm in. Are you in? My husband said, yeah, I'm in. And so we at that point. That's a long conversation, very, you know, 30 seconds long, maybe tops. And so after that, we decided to get custody of our Gabby girl. And it was about a four and a half year long process to actually solidify the adoption. And so a long process, I learned a lot of things about the legal system, some things I didn't really care to know about, but I feel like I'm kind of a lawyer at this point after all of that. Yeah, I know.
Starting point is 00:21:52 And so. The legal system is enough to, well, we'll just move on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But one of the interesting things through that is when we met Gabby, we actually were still in debt, and we were working our way out of that. And one of the opportunities with that was not only getting out of debt, but finances was one of my biggest concerns going through this adoption. I was thinking, we got to get out of debt so that we can adopt this child. Well, finances was the least of my concerns. God
Starting point is 00:22:18 provided, people were generous to us. We had the funds to pay for it. The emotional side was the hard part. And one of the stories with that was we were actually, we didn't have, we had custody of Gabby, but we hadn't adopted her yet. At her one-year birthday party at our house, we had actually had all of our friends, all of our family at our house, just hanging out. And we had some medical debt that was standing out there from my husband had had a medical emergency. And so we're working through that. We were going to get that paid off, but we had been served. We had been served at collections. And so we hear this knock on the door during this birthday party and all our friends and family are there. And I'm thinking, oh, is somebody late? You know, are they arriving late? So they knock on the door and then my husband gets to the door and he says,
Starting point is 00:23:01 there's a police officer out here. And I was like, why in the world would there be a police officer? And he was trying to be kind to us, but I was like, what in the world's going on? And he said, you've been served. Your dad's going to collections. And my pride just dropped. I was like, what in the world? We're fine. We're okay. But that's the moment where I was like, I've got to get out of debt and I've got to give this child a home. And so we were able to do both. And not only were we able to be generous to her, she's been so generous to us.
Starting point is 00:23:30 Oh, she's generous to everybody. She's amazing. She's an amazing kid. Yeah, she's a great kid. So very cool. So she's been with you how long now? She just turned six this past weekend, and she's been with us since she was almost a year old.
Starting point is 00:23:44 Yeah, all right. Yeah, a long time. That year, oh. Yes. Okay, so there's been with us since she was almost a year old yeah all right yeah long time that year oh yes okay so there's been a lot of you know a lot of people that listen have adopted foster they're kind of in that in that space as well with that parental role so so talk to the parents out there that maybe have adopted or are fostering and you guys have walked through this over years so what encouragement do you have for those parents? Because I know that there's really hard days. Yes. Through it all.
Starting point is 00:24:09 Like you were talking about even just the emotional side. But man, how that giving and consistency. Yes. And opening your home and your heart. I'm like, oh, like, yeah, that just that encouragement to parents that may feel discouraged. Yes. This holiday season. Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:24:24 Yes. Hold your kids close. That quality time, it can still be yours, even if you don't have the title. You know, we were parents before we even had the title. If we left it up to the government, we may never be parents. So that's one of the things that we're like, you know what, we're going to be parents to this child. And I would encourage all the potential parents out there, love those kids, hug those kids, give those kids everything that you can. Because they don't know they're going to be grateful for whatever you can give them. And they're going to give back to you tenfold. Jess, you've been with us how long?
Starting point is 00:24:54 Almost ten years. I thought so. And tell everybody what you do. I'm a Senior Customer Success Agent on Ramsey Trusted. All right. There it is. Senior customer. That's how that works.
Starting point is 00:25:04 Hey, I'd claim that too absolutely absolutely you do a great job and we're honored to have you as part of this family and uh honored to uh honor miss gabby and uh your whole family is cat are you bringing her over for the camera good good yeah absolutely she'll love this yeah she's coming up here we go there's miss gabby all right that way everybody can meet her on youtube very cool good stuff hey jessica thank you very much very well done proud of you thank you merry christmas miss gabby thank you all right very good stuff oh the adoption and the uh foster system is a um uh there's such a need and but it's never an easy process it's always it's always difficult yeah i mean that's you know even when scripture talks about widows and orphans and you're just like oh like as a as a mom with three little ones like
Starting point is 00:26:02 anytime there's stories like that like what we'll just talk through or you, you know, we have families that we know that foster and you just hear that. I mean, there's a level like the ultimate selflessness. I mean, you are giving your life away for a child that didn't choose that story. You know, it made me cry. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:26:20 So I think it's just, it's just beautiful. So I just commend her and her husband so much because it's hard. Being a parent's hard, let alone having that other dynamic in there. But then the redemption and the beauty of these kids and just even with Gabby, I'm like, you know, how her story is completely different because someone chose to do something in a really radical way. Yeah, very cool.
Starting point is 00:26:44 Neat people. Neat neat people that's what this is about open phones if you want to talk giving this is your day it is our annual giving show the phone number here is 888-825-5225 rachel you and i first wrote about this a long long time ago in your first number one bestseller smart money Money, Smart Kids, and you've talked about it even more since then. The idea that contentment, generosity, and gratitude are all intertwined, and they're all choices, and they all end up affecting your wealth building. They all end up affecting your money. Yeah. I mean, I think it's people sometimes are like,
Starting point is 00:27:30 you know, it makes no sense when you guys encourage us to be giving even while we're getting out of debt or while we're saving up for the emergency fund. Like as we're going through our process to get a solid financial foundation under us, you're wanting us to like let money not go towards the debt and get it paid off faster, but to actually give. And so we'll hear those conversations sometimes or those questions with people. And the answer always is yes, because not only what it changes in you,
Starting point is 00:27:55 but creating that habit of generosity and the change of your heart of what ends up happening. And suddenly, when you're generous, gratitude flows through. When you're generous, you realize, gosh, all the stuff I thought I needed, I really don't. I don't need to be fulfilled by that. You know, there's a joy out of living with that open hand
Starting point is 00:28:17 that really does bring a level of contentment that I think in turn allows you to get out of debt even faster and save even more. That's the weirdest thing. And it's a beautiful formula that I kind of turn allows you to get out of debt even faster and save even more. That's the weirdest thing. And it's a beautiful formula that I kind of feel like we've cracked in a great way. So it's wonderful. The triad of generosity, contentment, and gratitude.
Starting point is 00:28:39 The triad. Yeah, and all of these are things you can just choose to practice. And they build on each other, and they take you where you want to go with this money stuff. This is the annual giving hour, our giving show, here on The Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us, America. Open phones at 888-825-5225. This is your last day to enter the Ramsey Christmas Cash Giveaway. The giveaway ends tonight at 1159 p.m. Central Time. So if you haven't yet, go to RamseySolutions.com slash giveaway.
Starting point is 00:29:45 Enter for your chance to win the $5,000 grand prize. Of course, no purchase necessary. And of course, you have to be 18 or older to win. That's RamseySolutions.com slash giveaway. Don't forget that our $10 sale is still going on, and you can get our number one best-selling books like all of Rachel's, number one best-selling books. There's three of them.
Starting point is 00:30:09 And a couple of mine, the Total Money Makeover, number one, $10. Baby Steps Millionaire is my latest number one, $10. And speaking of Total Money Makeover, when you get the book, we often tell people to flip through and read the stories first because that's where the hope is. It's in the stories of people who got free from debt, changed their family tree because they finally dealt with the person in the mirror. These stories are powerful. This stuff works. Be weird.
Starting point is 00:30:30 Head on over to RamseySolutions.com and check the $10 sale out. This is our annual giving show, and we're talking to you about your giving story or your receiving story that is inspiring. Open phones here at 888-825-5225. Leslie is in Fort Worth, Texas. Hi, Leslie. Merry Christmas. Hey, Dave. Merry Christmas, and thank you so much for letting me talk to you today about my story. Well, tell us. We'd love to hear it. About seven years ago, my son Jackson was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. He was eight years old at the time, and we were very blessed. He went through treatment pretty quickly and was pronounced good to go after about nine months. Well, at the end of his journey through
Starting point is 00:31:20 that, the hospital referred us to an organization called A Wish With Wings. And they're a wish-granting organization here in Texas. And any kid who goes through a situation like Jackson, where they face a life-threatening condition, can be granted a wish. And they granted his wish, and he got to meet Dude Perfect, and we got to go to Disney. But that wasn't the most important part. Like you are, Dave, they are dealers in hope. And they gave our family hope. They were just such a sweet organization full of loving people. And when you've got a kid with cancer,
Starting point is 00:31:59 even family members and friends don't always know how to help you and how to be there for you. And this organization of people did, and we fell in love with them. So about a year after Jackson finished chemotherapy, he wanted to do something special. So Jackson and I did a 200-mile hike and raised $25,000 from family and friends who pledged to wish with wings for him doing this hike. How old was he then? He was nine years old. Oh, my gosh. You did a 200-mile hike one year after chemo with a nine-year-old. And he did it in 14 days.
Starting point is 00:32:36 This kid's a stud. He's a tough, tough little man. Well, now he's a tough, bigger man, but still. Nothing to stop this guy. Wow. Yeah, Yeah. And, uh, so, but still our family wanted to do more, uh, because we just love these people and we started volunteering and when they had events, we would go volunteer for those events.
Starting point is 00:32:58 I launched a business not long after that and the business has started doing well. So in the last few years, our family has been able to donate $65,000 to Wish With Wings, and that's enough to grant eight wishes. And then my wonderful children have gotten their friends involved. Every time my kid has a birthday party, he's collecting gifts for other kids who are sick, who have cancer. Every time their school has some kind of fundraising opportunity, they plug this organization because they care about them. So
Starting point is 00:33:31 you talk a lot, Dave, about changing your family tree. And to me, this changed our family tree because someone gave us hope and taught us that our number one goal should be helping other people have hope. So we are just totally sold out on helping this organization that is for kids with cancer. Yeah. What's the name of it one more time? A Wish With Wings. A Wish With Wings. Very cool.
Starting point is 00:33:58 Yeah, this whole situation was a force multiplier. One plus one doesn't equal two in this deal. One plus one ended up equaling 100. Well, and you can take a bad situation and you can let it gnaw at you or pretend it didn't happen, or you can decide you're going to make it into something better.
Starting point is 00:34:19 And while I'll never be grateful that my kid went through cancer, I am so grateful that now we understand what it's like to be the people who are the recipient of bad situations that are not their doing. And it's taught everyone in our family, including both our kids, compassion and love. And we really now in our family budget, we put giving as a top line item. There are so many things we just don't need. And we thought we did. We would much rather give back.
Starting point is 00:34:50 I know that sounds so cheesy and over the top, but it's true. Because when we see these other families, they don't have it easy like we did. Well, yeah. And when you face something, Leslie, like that, when your child is sick, and I'm sure you got the fear of what, you know, the ultimate fear of what, what if we, what if we lose him? I mean, all, I'm sure you go through all those emotions. I can't even imagine. And I think too, it's that perspective that when you realize, wow, he came out of this and like,
Starting point is 00:35:19 life is so short and, you know, all the stuff that we think is going to make us happy in this life that we go out and try to purchase and experience all this stuff that we're just like, go, go, go, go, go in the consumeristic aspect of our world that we think is going to give us joy. You in turn are like, you realize, oh my gosh, no, it truly is this giving back out of this pain and this story that you guys went through. But it's this perspective that you have that you're like, okay, we could go buy a bunch of stuff with this money or we can give it. And in your life, you are putting true value on where value should be. So, Leslie, that's absolutely incredible.
Starting point is 00:35:59 Well done, Leslie. Merry Christmas to you. What a great giving story. What a great giving story. Yeah, so it turns out pushing buy now, buy now, buy now, filling your cart is probably not what life's about.
Starting point is 00:36:14 Who knew? Sorry, Amazon. Hey, a few weeks ago, we told you our studio sponsors here, Pods Moving and Storage, were going to be entering the giving season. They're going to join us on this whole giving crusade. They're holding a sweepstakes to give away a free move or storage rental for one Ramsey listener.
Starting point is 00:36:36 We're excited to share the winner today. It seemed fitting to do here on the giving show because this was up to a $5,000 value. That's generous pods moving thank you very cool stuff so congratulations to andrea k andrea recently moved from apollo beach florida to just a little ways up the road here in hermitage tennessee uh she shared that she's ecstatic to have her move paid for by pods and hey who hey, who wouldn't be? Welcome to Tennessee, Andrea. And the giveaway is over. If you're looking for a company that will work with you, take care of you, cause you to have a great moving experience,
Starting point is 00:37:15 well, the pods moving and storage folks are the people. And they're the only ones that are Ramsey trusted in the moving provider space. You can check them out at pods.com slash Ramsey. We appreciate their partnership here with us, their sponsorship of the show. One of the reasons you are able to get this show, all the ways you get this show is our sponsors, the advertisers, the people that are with us in the studio. Sponsorship's a big deal. So the pods moving and storage people are great folks.
Starting point is 00:37:44 And we are kind of hard to work with in terms of we don't endorse just anybody we don't put ramsey trusted on just anybody just because they've got the money um and we'd rather just sit here with a studio than the pods moving and storage studio but the pods people are great folks i personally met with a lot of their leadership team they do a great job they give discounts met with a lot of their leadership team. They do a great job. They give discounts to the military. Those of you in the military, you move all the time, and they give you great discounts. They're a great American company.
Starting point is 00:38:12 And Andrea Kay just got her move paid for. There you go. That's pretty cool. Very nice. Yeah, moving can be pricey. So when you just get it paid for, you're like, that's great. It can be really pricey. If you go with one of those companies that mistreat you,
Starting point is 00:38:27 yeah, it's a, they mistreat your stuff in the process. Yeah. Pods moving and storage. Thanks guys. It's a giving show today here on the Ramsey show. Rachel Cruz is my cohost.
Starting point is 00:38:39 You hang with us. We'll be here. Hey, it's Rachel Cruz, co-host on The Ramsey Show. If you want to do your debt-free scream live on the show, visit ramseysolutions.com slash debt-free scream. We'd love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story. That's ramseysolutions.com slash debt-free scream.

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