Helping one family at a time

The Boston Globe

Beverly Beckham

Terry Orcutt spends her days on the phone and most evenings, too, listening, taking notes, asking questions. "Where do you live? What do you need? How many children do you have?" Her concern is real. Her love for people she doesn't know is real, too. It's what drives her and what sustains her, call after call.

"Love one another as I love you." This is Christianity's number one rule. Terry Orcutt lives this rule. She loves without question. She sees God in all people. So does her husband, Jim.

Eighteen years ago, a made-for-television movie, "God Bless The Child" changed their lives. It was a true story about a young woman who lost custody of her daughter because she didn't have a place to live. "That's all she needed. A place to stay and someone who cared," Terry said.

The TV movie drove home to Terry and Jim the idea that one person can make a difference. They talked and they prayed and decided to rearrange their lives so that they were, indeed, the ones who made the difference.

The next day, they printed fliers and posted them at the Paul Dever School where they both worked. The fliers asked for donations of used clothes, which they collected, washed and ironed after work, then distributed to shelters around Brockton on their days off.

At the shelters, they learned that people were desperate for furniture. So they added furniture to their fliers and collected and cleaned and distributed chairs and couches and beds.

Soon their small cellar was bulging with items, which their car was suddenly too small to carry.

So, with $500 in savings and $500 from two friends, they bought a used truck. Another friend said they could use his barn for storage. And when the barn got too small, another friend loaned them the use of a bigger building.

This is how My Brother's Keeper was born, one step at a time, one volunteer, one collection, one delivery, one day, one family helped.

It's now located in a new building adjacent to Stonehill College in Easton, its mission bigger than furniture, "To bring the love and hope of Jesus Christ to those it serves."

At Christmas, the warehouse turns into Santa's workshop. In 1990, just 14 families were served. This year, My Brother's Keeper will provide gifts and food for 1,600 families in 61 communities. And volunteers will do all of the work, buying, sorting, wrapping, packing, addressing, and delivering everything that's donated.

It has all the hustle and bustle and coziness of the North Pole - the coffee on, candy for the kids, a play area, toys on all the shelves, bicycles, sleds, Christmas music playing, young and old working together.

"Love one another as I love you" is easy here.

A woman drops off a bag full of handmade knitted sweaters. Another brings in crocheted scarves. Someone else brings in toys. A child brings in a doll. All day, every day, people come and go.

On one shelf there are hundreds of great big, red-ribboned gift baskets full of soaps and lotions and Christmas pins because mothers call to ask for something for their children and say, No, no, they don't need anything for themselves. These gifts are for them.

Terry and Jim Orcutt do not accept a paycheck from My Brother's Keeper. For cash they work part time at the Retreat House at Stonehill. They drive an old Ford. They don't take vacations. They say they have no desire to get away because they are exactly where they want to be.

Because My Brother's Keeper accepts no federal or state funding, there are no prerequisites for service. Someone calls and says, "I need," and they get.

Deliveries are made in unmarked vehicles "to protect the privacy and dignity of those whom we are given the privilege of serving." And volunteers begin and end each day with prayer.

The Orcutts put their trust in God. And they depend upon God to provide. And he does, in the guises of corporate sponsors and donors and ordinary people giving as much as they can.

It's beautiful to see, all that can happen when people love.

The phone rings. Terry answers. "What's your name? How old are the children? How can we help?"